Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Skull |
SkullNoun1. The bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "skull" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of skulls grinning at you, is a sign of domestic quarrels and jars. Business will feel a shrinkage if you handle them. To see a friend's skull, denotes that you will receive injury from a friend because of your being preferred to him. To see your own skull, denotes that you will be the servant of remorse. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Health | The skeleton of the head including the bones of the face and the bones enclosing the brain. (references) |
Literature | Skull You shall quaff beer out of the skulls of your enemies. (Scandinavian.) Skull means a cup or dish; hence a person who washes up cups and dishes is called a scullery-maid. (Scotch, skoll, a bowl; French, écuelle; Danish, skaal, a drinking-vessel; German, schale; our shell.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Medicine | The skeleton of the head. Source: European Union. (references) |
Metallurgy | Solidified steel remaining in the tundish of a continuous casting plant after a cast. Source: European Union. (references) |
Slang | Noun. Source: The head. Definition: When the club is a litt;e bit over the ball when you hit it so the ball goes into the ground. Context: An accidental shot when hit over the ball. Social Source: University of Oregon Golf Team. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In anatomy, the skull is the hard bony structure that protects the brain from damage and gives the head its shape.
Human skull (front)
(large version)
Human skull (side)
(large version)In earlier times, a skull operation called trepanation was often performed for semi-mystical reasons and not only as an attempted life-saving technique.
The skull also contains the sinus cavities.
Bones of the human skull
Cranial bones:
- frontal bone
- parietal bone (2)
- temporal bone (2)
- occipital bone
- sphenoid bone
- ethmoid bone
Facial bones:
- mandible
- maxilla (2)
- palatine bone (2)
- zygomatic bone (2)
- nasal bone (2)
- lacrimal bone (2)
- vomer bone
- inferior nasal conchae (2)
Foramina of skull base
A list of the holes (foramina) in the base of the skull and what goes through each of them.
Arranged from anterior to posterior:
- foramen caecum - emissary vein to superior sagittal sinus
- foramina of cribriform plate - olfactory nerve bundles
- posterior ethmoidal foramen - posterior ethmoidal artery, vein and nerve
- optic canal - optic nerve (II), ophthalmic artery
- superior orbital fissure
- oculomotor nerve (III)
- trochlear nerve (IV)
- lacrimal, frontal and nasociliary branches of opthalmic nerve (V1)
- abducens nerve (VI)
- superior opthalmic vein
- foramen rotundum - maxillary nerve (V2)
- foramen ovale
- mandibular nerve (V3)
- accessory meningeal artery
- lesser petrosal nerve (occasionally)
- foramen spinosum
- middle meningeal artery and vein
- meningeal branch of mandibular nerve
- formamen lacerum
- internal carotid artery
- internal carotid nerve plexus
- hiatus of canal of lesser petrosal nerve
- hiatus of canal of greater petrosal nerve
- internal acoustic meatus
- facial nerve (VII)
- vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII)
- labyrinthine artery
- jugular foramen
- inferior petrosal sinus
- glossopharyngeal nerve (IX)
- vagus nerve (X)
- accessory nerve (XI)
- sigmoid sinus
- posterior meningeal artery
- internal jugular vein
- hypoglossal canal - hypoglossal nerve (XII)
- foramen magnum
- medulla oblongata
- meninges
- vertebral arteries
- meningeal branches of vertebral arteries
- spinal roots of accessory nerves
see also: cranium
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Skull."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Insanity | Mad as a March hare, mad as a hatter; of unsound mind; Noun: touched in one's head, wrong in one's head, not right in one's head, not in one's right mind, not right in one's wits, upper story; out of one's mind, out of one's wits, out of one's skull, far gone, out of one's senses, out of one's wits; not in one's right mind. |
Intellect | Brain, organ of thought, seat of thought; sensorium, sensory; head, headpiece; pate, noddle, noggin, skull, scull, |
Weariness | Verb: weary; tire; (fatigue); bore; bore to death, weary to death, tire to death, bore out of one's skull, bore out of one's life, weary out of one's life, tire out of one's life, bore out of all patience, weary out of all patience, wear out one's patience, tire out of all patience; set to sleep, send to sleep; buttonhole. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | If I ever lay my two eyes on you again, I'm gonna walk right up to you and hammer on that monkeyed skull of yours 'til it rings like a Chinese gong (His Girl Friday; writing credit: Ben Hecht; Charles MacArthur) Confess, don't be boring, say yes, don't be dull, a fact you're ignoring, it's better to lose your skull cap than your skull (History of the World Part 1; writing credit: Mel Brooks) Old enough to kick your butt through your skull and splatter your brains on the wall (Empire Records; writing credit: Carol Heikkinen) Oh nothing, I just cracked my skull. (The Long, Long Trailer; writing credit: Clinton Twiss; Albert Hackett) They said you could crush a man's skull with one hand (Gladiator; writing credit: David Franzoni) | |
Lyrics | It's all gonna split his skull (Birdland; performing artist: Patti Smith) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The House on Skull Mountain (1974) Screaming Skull (1973) The Skull (1965) ...för vänskaps skull... (1965) The Screaming Skull (1958) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | An unidentified bird skull hangs in the branches of a mangrove where it reminds volunteers of the importance of the clean-up. When monofilament is left in roosting areas, birds will continue to perish. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | Figure 38. Stahlberger rheobathometer, invented in 1873 by Emil Stahlberger to measure currents, measure depth, and collect deep water samples. It was first used on board the Austrian corvette MINERVA in 1873 in the Gulf of Fiume. The original device was made by Mathias Skull of Fiume, Austria. Several versions of this instrument were tested at various depths. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Caribou skull and fall tundra near Salmon Lake, Seward Peninsula. Credit: Nick Seifert. |  | Deer skull with antlers, Lakeview District. Credit: Terry Spivey. |
 | Fire suppression by a Snake River Valley crew member at the Skull Creek Fire near Burns, Oregon. Credit: Mark Armstrong. |  | Nye Cabin, with a skull South side of the road looking east. Credit: John Craig. |
 | Bunks in Nye Cabin with skull. Ny Place rim side of road, right side of Wilderness signs. Credit: John Craig. |  | Nye Cabin (with skull), Steen's Mountain. Credit: Mark Armstrong. |
 | View of the riparian and recovery are of Skull Creek in the south Steens area. Credit: Gina Lampmau. |  | Whale Skull. Credit: Alaska Image Library. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Skull" by Zhe Zhang Commentary: "Skeleton model from a biology lab." | "Nico & the skull" by Louise Ingram Commentary: "This was supposed to be a spooky Halloween shoot. Unfortunately she's way to cute to scare anyone!." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
William Shakespeare | Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | Within the same period Germany will hand over to His Britannic Majesty's Government the skull of the Sultan Mkwawa which was removed from the Protectorate of German East Africa and taken to Germany. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He appeared ready either to cleave this skull, or to kiss this hand |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | There was a skull on the desk and a strange solemn smell in the room like the old leather of chairs |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The doctor may take x-rays of the skull and spine. (references) | |
The parietal bones form the top and sides of the skull. (references) | ||
The disorder results in an abnormality of the shape of the skull. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Ukraine | In August an assailant fractured the skull of a Luhansk television reporter, Oleksiy Movesyan. (references) |
Economic History | Chad | A humanoid skull found in Borkou is more than 3 million years old. (references) |
Human Rights | Guyana | An autopsy revealed that he died of a fractured skull and hemorrhaging from a severe beating. (references) |
Trade | Colombia | Insecticides and other toxic products should prominently display the skull and crossbones, the word "poison" in Spanish, and information regarding usage and antidotes. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | EXCESS, n. In morals, an indulgence that enforces by appropriate penalties the law of moderation. Hail, high Excess -- especially in wine, To thee in worship do I bend the knee Who preach abstemiousness unto me -- My skull thy pulpit, as my paunch thy shrine. Precept on precept, aye, and line on line, Could ne'er persuade so sweetly to agree With reason as thy touch, exact and free, Upon my forehead and along my spine. At thy command eschewing pleasure's cup, With the hot grape I warm no more my wit; When on thy stool of penitence I sit I'm quite converted, for I can't get up. Ungrateful he who afterward would falter To make new sacrifices at thine altar! |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Louise Ashby | What they do is you have three layers of skull. So they take the top lair of skull and they rebuild it with this, a metal. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Skull" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 93.67% of the time. "Skull" is used about 1,041 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 93.67% | 975 | 7,497 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.05% | 63 | 42,364 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.19% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.1% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,041 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "skull". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Orpa | N/A | N/A | The neck or skull |
| Orpha | N/A | N/A | The neck or skull |
| Calvary | N/A | Biblical | The place of a skull |
| Orpah | N/A | Biblical | The neck or skull |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "skull": Calaveras skull ♦ fractured skull ♦ get into skull ♦ skull and crossbones ♦ Skull Base ♦ Skull Base Neoplasms ♦ skull cap ♦ skull cracker ♦ Skull Fractures ♦ Skull Neoplasms ♦ skull practice ♦ skull session ♦ skull unit ♦ thick skull. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "skull": skull-amulet, skull-and-crossbones, skull-cap, skull-caps, skull-collared, skull-cracking, skull-face, skull-flame, skull-like, skull-rock, skull-rooted, skull-splitting, skull-staff. | |
Ending with "skull": half-skull, helmet-skull. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
skull | 3,885 | free skull theme | 61 |
skull tattoo | 536 | flaming skull | 59 |
skull bones | 352 | bones skull society | 57 |
skull picture | 337 | crossbones picture skull | 55 |
skull crossbones | 318 | skull fracture | 47 |
skull cap | 227 | skull ring | 45 |
skull pic | 176 | anatomy skull | 45 |
human skull | 146 | cartoon skull | 44 |
drawing skull | 141 | buffalo skull | 43 |
voodoo glow skull | 133 | clipart skull | 42 |
skull art | 114 | art clip skull | 42 |
crystal skull | 112 | skull sticker | 41 |
skull and cross bones | 92 | background skull | 40 |
skull wallpaper | 80 | animal skull | 39 |
cow skull | 73 | red skull | 37 |
skull graphic | 72 | steer skull | 34 |
black skull dragon | 65 | picture skull tattoo | 33 |
image skull | 63 | gifs skull | 32 |
human skull picture | 62 | skull t shirt | 29 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "skull"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | kafkë (brainpan, cranium). (various references) | |
Arabic | عقل (brains, intellect, intelligence, layer, mentality, mind, pate, picket, psyche, reason, sense, steady, wit), جمجمة (cranium), الجمجمة (calvary, crown), رأس الميت. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | череп (cranium, death's head). (various references) | |
Chinese | 髑 , 髏 , 顱 (forehead), 頭蓋骨 , 头骨, 囟 (top of head). (various references) | |
Czech | palice (club, cudgel, Mace), lebka (cranium, sconce). (various references) | |
Danish | kranium, kranie (cranium), hovedskal (calvaria, calvarium, cranium), bjoern (bear, salamander). (various references) | |
Dutch | schedel (cranium). (various references) | |
Esperanto | kranio. (various references) | |
Faeroese | skøltur. (various references) | |
Farsi | فرق سر (Crown, Peak, Scalp), جمجمه (Brainpan, Cranium, Pan, Scalp). (various references) | |
Finnish | pääkallo (cranium), kallo (cranium). (various references) | |
French | crâne. (various references) | |
German | Schädel (cranium, noddle, pate, pates, poll, skulls). (various references) | |
Greek | κρανίο (cranium, pate). (various references) | |
Hebrew | קרקפת (scalp), גולגולת (cranium, head). (various references) | |
Hungarian | koponya (brainpan, crania, cranio, cranium, death's-head, pate). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tengkorak (brainpan, cephalic, skeleton). (various references) | |
Italian | cranio (cranium). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 髑髏 (cranium), 頭骨 , 頭骨 , 頭蓋骨 (cranium), 頭蓋 (cranium). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ずがいこつ (cranium), ずがい (cranium), どくろ (cranium), とうがいこつ (cranium), とうこつ (radius). (various references) | |
Korean | 두개골 (Cranial). (various references) | |
Manx | claigin (bowl, bowl of pipe, cranium, dome of head, pate, scalp), bollag (cranium, death's head). (various references) | |
Maya | leek pool. (various references) | |
Norwegian | skalle (hull). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ullskay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | crânio (bean, brain pan, cranium, death's-head), caveira (death's-head). (various references) | |
Romanian | scãfârlie (pate), tigvã (apex, bean, nob, noddle, nut, pate), hârcã (grimalkin, hag), craniu (brain pan, cranium), cap (bean, beginning, brains, Cape, chief, chump, end, foreland, front, head, heading, headland, judgment, knob, lid, loaf, mastermind, Mull, Ness, noddle, noggin, nut, pate, peak, peninsula, pericranium, pommel, promontory, rock, sense, top, understanding), ţeastã (loaf). (various references) | |
Russian | череп (brain-pan, cranium, death's head). (various references) | |
Scottish | claigeann. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | lobanja (cranium, scalp). (various references) | |
Spanish | cráneo (brainpan, crania, cranium, death's head), craneo (cranium). (various references) | |
Swedish | skalle (conk, cranium, crumpet, dome, loaf, noddle, noggin, pate), kranium (cranium), huvudskål. (various references) | |
Thai | กะโหลกศีรษะ. (various references) | |
Turkish | kurukafa (death's head), kafatası (brainpan, cranial, cranium). (various references) | |
Turkmen | bцrьk (skull cap). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | череп (cranium, death's head), довбешка (calabash, chump, nob). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sọ, bộ óc, đầu lâu đầu óc. (various references) | |
Welsh | sio\l (pate), pen.glog. (various references) | |
Yucatec | ho'ol (head, pate). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | 1. ugu. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | calvariae, calvariam, cerebrum. (various references) |
| Classical Hebrew | 200 BCE-Modern | gulgoleth. (various references) |
| Avestan | 200-600 | kameredhem. (various references) |
| Late Latin | 300-700 | testa. (various references) |
| Spanish | 900-Modern | casco. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Matthew Chapter 27, Verse 33 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai elqonteV eiV topon legomenon golgoqa oV estin legomenoV kraniou topoV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Et venerunt in locum qui dicitur Golgotha quod est Calvariae locus |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Ða comen hyo on þa stowe. þe ysge-nemned golgotha þt is heafed-pannanstowe; |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And thei camen in to a place that is clepid Golgatha, that is, the place of Caluarie. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And whe they cam vnto ye place called Golgotha (that is to saye a place of deed mens sculles) |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And when they came to the place named Golgotha, that is to say, Dead Man's Head, |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Matthew Chapter 27, Verse 33 |
| Croatian | I doðoše na mjesto zvano Golgota, to jest Lubanjsko mjesto, |
| Danish | Og da de kom til et Sted, som kaldes Golgatha, det er udlagt: "Hovedskalsted", |
| Dutch | En gekomen zijnde tot de plaats, genaamd Golgotha, welke is gezegd Hoofdschedelplaats, |
| Finnish | Ja tultuaan paikalle, jota sanotaan Golgataksi - se on: pääkallon paikaksi - |
| French | Arrivés au lieu nommé Golgotha, ce qui signifie lieu du crâne, |
| German | Und da sie an die Stätte kamen mit Namen Golgatha, das ist verdeutscht Schädelstätte, |
| Hungarian | És mikor eljutának arra a helyre, a melyet Golgothának, azaz koponya helyének neveznek, |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kemudian mereka sampai di suatu tempat yang bernama Golgota, yang artinya "Tempat Tengkorak". |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Setelah sampai mereka itu ke tempat yang bernama Golgota, artinya Tempat Tengkorak, |
| Manx Gaelic | As tra v'ad er jeet gys ynnyd ta enmyssit Golgotha, ta shen dy ghra, Ynnyd bollag. |
| Maori | ¶ A, i to ratou taenga ki te wahi e kiia nei ko Korokota, ara, ko te wahi angaanga, |
| Norwegian | Og da de kom til et sted som kalles Golgata, det er Hodeskallestedet, |
| Rumanian | Cknd au ajuns la un loc numit Golgota, care knseamnq: ,,Locul cqpqyknii``, |
| Shuar | ¶ Nuyá Kúrkutanam ejeniarmiayi. Kúrkutaka, shuar chichamjainkia, muuka ukunch Tútainti. |
| Swahili | Walipofika mahali paitwapo Golgotha, maana yake, "Mahali pa Fuvu la kichwa," |
| Uma | ¶ Uma mahae rata-ramo hi po'ohaa' to rahanga' Golgota, batua-na Bulu' Banga'woo'. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "skull": skullcap, skullcaps, skullduggeries, skullduggery, skulled, skulls. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "skull": numbskull, numskull. (additional references) | |
Words containing "skull": numbskulls, numskulls. (additional references) | |
| |
"Skull" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: kull, Okullu, schull, scoll, scul, sculi, scully, seuill, shull, skel, skell, Skelly, skelp, skoal, skol, skoll, skul, skulle, skullk, skulu, squl. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "skull" (pronounced sku"l) |
| 4 | s k u" l | scull. |
| 3 | -k u" l | cull. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "k-l-l-s-u" | |
-1 letter: sulk. | |
-3 letters: us. | |
| Words containing the letters "k-l-l-s-u" | |
+1 letter: skulls. | |
+2 letters: mollusk, skellum, skilful, skulled, sulkily. | |
+3 letters: bullocks, krullers, luckless, mollusks, mullocks, numskull, outkills, skellums, skillful, skullcap, soullike, subskill, ukeleles, ukuleles. | |
+4 letters: bullnecks, duckbills, fullbacks, keelhauls, molluskan, numbskull, numskulls, pullbacks, skullcaps, subskills, unskilled. | |
+5 letters: buckyballs, kilojoules, lackluster, numbskulls, quillbacks, quillworks, skillfully, ultraslick, unskillful, unslakable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Quotations: Spoken 14. Usage Frequency 15. Names: Derived from 16. Expressions | 17. Expressions: Internet 18. Translations: Modern 19. Translations: Ancient 20. Bible Trace | 21. Derivations 22. Rhymes 23. Anagrams 24. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
