Brainstorming is when people meet on purpose to throw out many ideas — for a problem, a name, a story — without stopping to judge each one at first. The hope is that a wild idea will wake up a better one. In schools and offices the usual picture is a group, a board, a lot of talking. As a noun: a brainstorming session. As a verb form: we are brainstorming names for the club. The word is brainstorm plus -ing; brainstorm itself is brain + storm, a storm of thoughts. People do stretch it. One person at a desk may say “I’m brainstorming,” and others will understand, though the textbook picture is several people together. A brainstorm can also mean a single sudden idea. Though actually, an older meaning of brainstorm was a sudden wild or confused moment in the mind; that is why the “storm” picture is a little messy, and why a few English speakers now feel uneasy with the word and pick “idea session” instead. In Taiwan classrooms and companies, brainstorming is still the normal everyday term, and that is the sense you will meet. You brainstorm ideas, plans, names. You do not brainstorm a person.