skull

Pluralskulls

Formsskulls, skulling, skulled

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The bony structure of the head, taken as a whole, including the cranium, the facial bones, and the lower jaw.

   The forensic team examined the skull to estimate the victim's age.

   A newborn's skull has soft spots that gradually close as it grows.

   Similarcranium

   Note

   Anatomists keep skull and cranium apart. The cranium is only the vault around the brain, while the skull also takes in the facial bones and the mandible. The word came through Middle English sculle, probably from a dialectal form of Old Norse skalli, "bald head, skull." That word may in turn be related to Old English sċealu, "husk."

2. 2
   nounfigurativelycountable

   The mind or brain, viewed informally as the place where a person's thinking and sense reside.

   Try to get it into your skull that we leave at dawn.

   Some common sense finally made it through her skull.

   Similarhead, brain, mind, noggin

3. 3
   nouncountable

   An image of the bones of the head used as a symbol of death; a death's-head.

   The gravestone was carved with a winged skull, a common emblem of mortality.

   He wore a silver ring shaped like a grinning skull.

   Similardeath's-head

   Note

   Here the bones themselves become an emblem that stands for death itself. Tennyson uses it this way in In Memoriam (1850), where the divine foot rests "on the skull which thou hast made." Death is made and then trodden down in a single line. Death's-head names the same image as one compound, and skull is the plainer, everyday word for it.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To finish everything left in a glass by tipping it back and drinking it in a single draft.

   They dared him to skull the entire pint without stopping.

   She skulled the last of her water before the race began.

   Similardown, chug, neck, gulp

   Oppositesip, nurse

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To strike someone in the head with a fist, a weapon, or a thrown object.

   A rioter skulled the officer with a flung brick.

   She threatened to skull him if he came any closer.

   Similarbrain, clobber, bash, conk, whack

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To strike the ball above its center, usually by accident, so it travels low and hard rather than lifting into the air.

   She skulled her approach and watched it race past the flag.

   Beginners often skull the ball when they lift their heads too early.

   Similarthin, blade, top

   Note

   A golfer's word for a mishit. The club meets the ball too high, and the ball runs low instead of rising. The verb is transitive and takes the ball or the shot as its object: you skull an approach or skull the ball. Robert C. Knox's Golf Balls Are Female (2002) shows a typical result, a ball skulled "straight right, into the pond."

7. 7
   nouncountable

   The crown of the headpiece in a suit of armor: the dome-shaped section covering the top of the head.

   The armorer reinforced the skull of the helmet with an extra band of steel.

   Rust had eaten through the skull of the old helmet on display.

   Similarcrown, dome, bowl

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A crust of solidified metal that forms on a ladle or similar vessel as molten metal partly cools.

   The foundry crew chipped away the skull clinging to the ladle's lining.

   Each pour left a fresh skull of cooled iron on the vessel's walls.

   Similarcrust

9. 9
   noundialectalScotlandcountable

   A shallow basket fitted with a bow-shaped handle arching across its open top.

   Fishermen sorted the catch into a shallow skull on the dock.

   He filled the skull with shellfish and hauled it up the beach.

   Note

   A Scottish use that has nothing to do with the head: here a skull is a shallow basket with a bow handle. Outside Scotland, most readers will hear the anatomical word first. In writing meant for a wider audience, let the context make the basket clear, such as what it holds or who carries it.

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