His BRAINS crow

Insights

Intoxicated Exultation

The mind is pictured as drunk and celebratory, bursting into vain noises; drink has lifted inhibitions and replaced judgment with racket.

Boastful Mania

Crowing connotes triumphal bragging; a ‘crowing’ brain signals overconfidence or manic cheer that outruns reality and prudence.

Disordered Head

The image hints at mental disarray—thoughts clatter and ‘call’ like a barnyard cock, suggesting confusion disguised as high spirits.

Premature Victory

Like a cock announcing dawn before the work is done, a crowing brain celebrates too soon, mistaking noise for achievement.

Zoomorphic Mind

Early modern speech freely animalizes faculties; here the intellect takes on a rooster’s role, turning inner cognition into audible barnyard swagger to mark folly.

Tavern Register

The phrasing suits alehouse scenes: after cups, men ‘crow’—they boast, challenge, and laugh too loud—so a ‘crowing’ brain is a vivid shorthand for festive imprudence.

Sound Over Sense

Crowing is pure signal—volume without content. The proverb rebukes a state where verbal flourish replaces deliberation.

Continuum of Head-Idioms

Sits beside ‘brains are addle’ or ‘brains turn’d’: all treat judgment as a bodily organ whose humors can sour, heat, or clamor, naturalizing moral-mental lapse.

Social Warning

Labeling someone’s brains as ‘crowing’ cautions listeners: discount their claims until sobriety returns; cheer is not competence.

Rhetorical Devices

Personification

The brain is given agency and voice, dramatizing inner excess as an audible act.

Zoomorphism

Maps the mind onto a rooster, importing connotations of strut, noise, and dominance display.

Onomatopoeic Allusion

Evokes the cock’s ‘crow’ without stating it, letting the sound-image color the judgment with comic sharpness.

Metonymy

‘Brains’ stand for judgment and self-command; their ‘crowing’ signals those faculties gone awry.