scaphocephalusn.
/ˌskafəʊˈsɛfələs/ Pathology.
‘Boat-shaped head’; a condition of the skull (caused by premature ossification of the sagittal suture preventing transverse development), in which the length greatly exceeds the breadth.
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1865 Thurnam in Nat. Hist. Rev. Apr. 247 In the Negro..the more marked features of true scaphocephalus are more rarely seen.
Derivatives
scaphoceˈphalic adj.
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1863 D. Wilson Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. (ed. 2) I. i. ix. 236 Professor v. Baer..proposes the term scaphocephalic to indicate the same boat-like head-form.
1899 T. C. Allbutt Syst. Med. VIII. 240 There are other types [of idiots] of less importance, such as the amaurotic, syphilitic, choreic, scaphocephalic [etc.].
scaphoˈcephalous adj. of or pertaining to scaphocephalus.
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1889 W. W. Wagstaffe Mayne's Med. Vocab. (ed. 6) Scaphocephalous.
scaphoˈcephalism n.
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1888 Amer. Naturalist 22 614 Scaphocephalism..occurs from defective parietal bone formation.
scaphoˈcephaly n. = scaphocephalus n.
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1901 Nature 12 Sept. 490/2 Two..papers..on deformed heads of living subjects; the one in a case of oxycephaly or acrocephaly and the other of scaphocephaly.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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