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skull

noun
/ˈskʌl/

Etymology

From Middle English sculle, scolle (also schulle, scholle), probably from a dialectal form of Old Norse skalli (“bald head, skull”), itself probably related to Old English sċealu (“husk”), to Proto-Norse *ᛋᚲᚨᛚᛟ (*skalo), from Proto-Germanic *skallô; compare Finnish skallo. Compare Scots scull, Danish skal (“skull”) and skalle (“bald head, skull”), Norwegian skalle, Swedish skalle and especially dialectal Swedish skulle. Related to Old Norse skoltr (“brow”), skolptr (“muzzle, snout”), akin to Icelandic skoltur (“jaw”), dialectal Swedish skult, skulle (“dome, crown of the head, skull”), Norwegian Nynorsk skult, skolt (“cranium, head (of a hammer); crag; hub”), Middle Dutch scolle, scholle, Middle Low German scholle, schulle (“clod, sod”), and Scots skult, skolt. Compare also Old High German sciula, skiula (“skull”). Possibly related to Latin celsus (“lofty, high, tall”), collis (“hill”). Also related to Old Norse skǫllóttr, Icelandic sköllóttur, Old Swedish skallotter, Swedish skallig, Danish skaldet, Norwegian skallet (“bald”).

  1. derived from *skallô✻
  2. derived from *ᛋᚲᚨᛚᛟ✻
  3. derived from skalli
  4. inherited from sculle

Definitions

  1. The main bones of the head considered as a unit

    The main bones of the head considered as a unit; including the cranium, facial bones, and mandible.

  2. These bones as a symbol for death

    These bones as a symbol for death; death's-head.

    • Thine are these orbs of light and shade; ⁠Thou madest Life in man and brute; ⁠Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made.

  3. The mind or brain.

    • My thoughts are flying around in my skull like fireflies in a jar, but all of a sudden I'm unbearably tired and can't stay awake.
  4. ›+ 8 more definitions

    1. A crust formed on the ladle, etc. by the partial cooling of molten metal.

    2. The crown of the headpiece in armour.

    3. A shallow bow-handled basket.

    4. The head or master of a college.

      • Graduates […] will never forget that majestic stature, that massive brow, that commanding look, as its possessor paced the ante-chapel of his college, or took his seat of presidence among the skulls of Golgotha.

    5. To hit in the head with a fist, a weapon, or a thrown object.

    6. To strike the top of (the ball).

      • Monte swung so hard at the next ball that he skulled it straight right, into the pond: 8 in, 9 out.

    7. To drink everything that remains in a glass by upending it.

      • She nearly skulled the next drink and, despite feeling a little woozy, she felt a lot better.
      • That was at Jessica Eyre's sixteenth, and while nothing terrible had happened (I had skulled four Lemon Ruskis and fallen asleep in the garden), it was agreed by all that I had embarrassed myself.
      • He lifted his pint to skull what was left, but suddenly the whole thing— the smell of smoke and spilled beer, the flat Glasgow voices, the chiming of the cash register, the clatter of glasses— was somehow too much.

    8. Obsolete form of school (“a multitude”).

      • A knavish skull of boys and girls did pelt at him.

The neighborhood

Derived

Beauchene skull, cloverleaf skull, crackskull, crumbling skull rule, deathskull, exploded skull, fuckskull, get it through one's skull, get through one's thick skull, hot-skull, numbskull, numskull, out of one's skull, popskull, pseudo-skull, rattleskull, sapskull, skull and bones, skull and crossbones, skull base disease, skullbone, skullcap, skull-collecting ant, skullcup, skull drum, skullet, skull-fuck, skullfucker, skullful, skullish, skull-like, skulllike, skull-measurer, skull-pan, skullscape, skull session, skull-thatcher, Skull Valley, skully, sugar skull · +3 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at skull. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01skull02mandible03mouthparts04mouthpart05mouth06aperture07geostationary08orbital09orbit

A definitional loop anchored at skull. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at skull

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA