Skull
(Skull), n. [OE. skulle, sculle, scolle; akin to Scot. skull, skoll, a bowl, Sw. skalle skull, skal a
shell, and E. scale; cf. G. hirnschale, Dan. hierneskal. Cf. Scale of a balance.]
1. (Anat.) The skeleton of the head of a vertebrate animal, including the brain case, or cranium, and
the bones and cartilages of the face and mouth. See Illusts. of Carnivora, of Facial angles under
Facial, and of Skeleton, in Appendix.
In many fishes the skull is almost wholly cartilaginous but in the higher vertebrates it is more or less
completely ossified, several bones are developed in the face, and the cranium is made up, wholly or
partially, of bony plates arranged in three segments, the frontal, parietal, and occipital, and usually
closely united in the adult.
2. The head or brain; the seat of intelligence; mind.
Skulls that can not teach, and will not learn.
Cowper. 3. A covering for the head; a skullcap. [Obs. & R.]
Let me put on my skull first.
Beau. & Fl. 4. A sort of oar. See Scull.
Skull and crossbones, a symbol of death. See Crossbones.
Skullcap
(Skull"cap`) n.
1. A cap which fits the head closely; also, formerly, a headpiece of iron sewed inside of a cap for protection.
2. (Bot.) Any plant of the labiate genus Scutellaria, the calyx of whose flower appears, when inverted,
like a helmet with the visor raised.
3. (Zoöl.) The Lophiomys.
Mad-dog skullcap (Bot.), an American herb (Scetellaria lateriflora) formerly prescribed as a cure for
hydrophobia.
Skullfish
(Skull"fish`) n. A whaler's name for a whale more than two years old.
Skulpin
(Skul"pin) n. (Zoöl.) See Sculpin.
Skun
(Skun) n. & v. See Scum.
Skunk
(Skunk) n. [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian) seganku.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several
species of American musteline carnivores of the genus Mephitis and allied genera. They have two glands
near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid, which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of
defense.
The common species of the Eastern United States (Mephitis mephitica) is black with more or less white
on the body and tail. The spotted skunk native of the Southwestern United States and Mexico, is smaller
than the common skunk, and is variously marked with black and white.
Skunk bird, Skunk blackbird (Zoöl.), the bobolink; — so called because the male, in the breeding
season, is black and white, like a skunk. — Skunk cabbage (Bot.), an American aroid herb (Symplocarpus
fœtidus>) having a reddish hornlike spathe in earliest spring, followed by a cluster of large cabbagelike
leaves. It exhales a disagreeable odor. Also called swamp cabbage. — Skunk porpoise. (Zoöl.) See
under Porpoise.
