SKULL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does skull mean? 

• SKULL (noun)
  The noun SKULL has 1 sense:

1. the bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates

  Familiarity information: SKULL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SKULL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("skull" is a kind of...):

bone; os (rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates)

Meronyms (parts of "skull"):

craniometric point (a landmark on the skull from which craniometric measurements can be taken)

cheekbone; jugal bone; malar; malar bone; os zygomaticum; zygomatic; zygomatic bone (the arch of bone beneath the eye that forms the prominence of the cheek)

os sphenoidale; sphenoid; sphenoid bone (butterfly-shaped bone at the base of the skull)

cranial orbit; eye socket; orbit; orbital cavity (the bony cavity in the skull containing the eyeball)

endocranium (membrane lining the inside of the skull)

braincase; brainpan; cranium (the part of the skull that encloses the brain)

jaw (the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth)

vomer (thin trapezoidal bone of the skull forming the posterior and inferior parts of the nasal septum)

Holonyms ("skull" is a part of...):

caput; head (the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains)

axial skeleton (the part of the skeleton that includes the skull and spinal column and sternum and ribs)

 Context examples 

It can happen when part of the skull is too small, which pushes the brain tissue down.

(Chiari Malformation, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

The team detected the channels throughout the skull as well as in the tibia, which led them to search for similar features in the human skull.

(Researchers unearth secret tunnels between the skull and the brain, National Institutes of Health)

And there isn't an original idea in any of their skulls.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The inferior region of the skull consisting of an internal (cerebral), and an external (basilar) surface.

(Base of the Skull, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Any one of the seven vertebrae that start with C1, connecting the skull to the spine, and ends with C7, which joins the cervical with the thoracic spine.

(Cervical Vertebra, NCI Thesaurus)

The skull measures almost five inches long, twice the size of the largest known mammal skull from the Age of Dinosaurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

(Scientists discover fossil of bizarre groundhog-like mammal on Madagascar, NSF)

The bones, muscles, tendons, and other tissues that reach from the base of the skull to the tailbone.

(Backbone, NCI Dictionary)

A test of the transmission of sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull.

(Bone Conduction Assessment, NCI Thesaurus)

The Border Collie is a medium sized dog, with a body that is slightly longer than the height and a fairly wide skull.

(Border Collie, NCI Thesaurus)

He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)