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skull

noun

  1. the bony framework of the head, enclosing the brain and supporting the face; the skeleton of the head.
  2. the head as the center of knowledge and understanding; mind:
    to get literature's great ideas through our skulls.
  3. Armor. the part of a helmet that covers the top of the head.

/ skʌl /

noun

  1. the bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates
    See cranium
    cranial
  2. derogatory.
    the head regarded as the mind or intelligence
    to have a dense skull
  3. a picture of a skull used to represent death or danger

/ skŭl /

  1. The part of the skeleton that forms the framework of the head, consisting of the bones of the cranium, which protect the brain, and the bones of the face.

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Other Words From

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Word History and Origins

Origin of skull1

1175–1225; Middle English scolle < Old Norse skalli

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Word History and Origins

Origin of skull1

C13: of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse skoltr, Norwegian skult, Swedish dialect skulle

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

  1. out of one's skull, Slang. crazy; demented.

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Example Sentences

"Bradley was blind because he shook him that hard, he snapped his optic nerve and he had a can of Coke’s worth of blood between his brain and his skull," Bradley's mum, Sharon Boocock, said.

But with a cat draped across my skull, my mind drifted to a previous trip I'd made to D.C. in January 2017, when I covered the Women's March to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump.

The two boys were discovered in their beds a few minutes later and had suffered skull fractures and injuries to their ribs, spleen, a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

Maybe the detached skulls and bloody hands on our lawns are part of an endeavor to harness or reclaim our fears.

A post-mortem examination showed the victim was shot all over his body and that he also had a fractured skull, which was consistent with a gun being used to inflict a blunt force injury.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.