a. (Zool.) Having a spiny head, as one of the Acanthocephala. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'ake`falos without a head + ky`stis bladder. ] (Zool.) A larval entozoön in the form of a subglobular or oval vesicle, or hydatid, filled with fluid, sometimes found in the tissues of man and the lower animals; -- so called from the absence of a head or visible organs on the vesicle. These cysts are the immature stages of certain tapeworms. Also applied to similar cysts of different origin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or resembling, the acephalocysts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Acephal. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Headless. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Without a distinct head; -- a term applied to bivalve mollusks. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) Having the style spring from the base, instead of from the apex, as is the case in certain ovaries. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Without a leader or chief. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Wanting the beginning. [ 1913 Webster ]

A false or acephalous structure of sentence. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Pros.) Deficient at the beginning, as a line of poetry. Brande. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'anh`r, 'andro`s, man + kefalh` head. ] Having a human head (upon an animal's body), as the Egyptian sphinx. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ } a. [ Gr. &unr_;, priv. + &unr_; the brain: cf. Encephalon. ] (Zool.) Without a brain; brainless. Todd & B. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Aurum + cephalous. ] (Zool.) Having a gold-colored head. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; independent; &unr_; self + &unr_; head. ] (Eccl. Hist.) Having its own head; independent of episcopal or patriarchal jurisdiction, as certain Greek churches. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. bi- + cephalous: cf. F. bicéphale. ] Having two heads. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , a. [ Gr. brachy`s short + &unr_; head. ] (Anat.) Having the skull short in proportion to its breadth; shortheaded; -- in distinction from dolichocephalic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. cachalot. ] (Zoöl.) The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). It has in the top of its head a large cavity, containing an oily fluid, which, after death, concretes into a whitish crystalline substance called spermaceti. See Sperm whale. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Gr. kefalh` head. ] A combining form denoting the head, of the head, connected with the head; as, cephalosome, cephalopod. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cephalo- + Gr. ke`rkos tail. ] (Zool.) Relating to the long axis of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cephalo- + -oid. ] Shaped like the head. Craing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + -logy. ] The science which treats of the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + -mere. ] (Zool.) One of the somites (arthromeres) which make up the head of arthropods. Packard. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + -meter. ] (Med.) An instrument measuring the dimensions of the head of a fetus during delivery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Anthropometry) The measurement of the heads of living persons. -- Ceph`a*lo*met"ric pos>a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

‖n. (Zool.) The head. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. kefalh` head + fe`rein to bear. ] (Zool.) The cephalata. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., gr. Gr. kefalh` head + -poda: cf. F. céphalopode. ] (Zool.) The highest class of Mollusca. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ They have, around the front of the head, a group of elongated muscular arms, which are usually furnished with prehensile suckers or hooks. The head is highly developed, with large, well organized eyes and ears, and usually with a cartilaginous brain case. The higher forms, as the cuttlefishes, squids, and octopi, swim rapidly by ejecting a jet of water from the tubular siphon beneath the head. They have a pair of powerful horny jaws shaped like a parrot's beak, and a bag of inklike fluid which they can eject from the siphon, thus clouding the water in order to escape from their enemies. They are divided into two orders, the Dibranchiata, having two gills and eight or ten sucker-bearing arms, and the Tetrabranchiata, with four gills and numerous arms without suckers. The latter are all extinct except the Nautilus. See Octopus, Squid, Nautilus. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. (Zool.) One of the Cephalopoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. (Zool.) Belonging to, or resembling, the cephalopods. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. kefalh` head + ptero`n wing. ] (Zool.) One of the generic names of the gigantic ray (Manta birostris) of the family Mobulidae, known as devilfish, sea devil, manta and manta ray. It is common on the coasts of South Carolina, Florida, and farther south, and is sometimes found as far north as New York Bay. Some of them grow to enormous size, becoming twenty feet of more across the body, and weighing more than a ton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + -some body. ] (Zool.) The anterior region or head of insects and other arthropods. Packard. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ from Cephalosporium, a fungus producing the first of the series discovered. ] (Chem.) any of a class of chemical substances, some of which have therapeutically useful antibacterial activity, whose structure contains a beta-lactam ring fused to a six-membered ring containing a sulfur and a nitrogen atom. The first of the series, cephalosporin C, was discovered by G. Brotzu in 1955 in the culture broth of a Cephalosporium species found off the coast of Sardinia. Other cephalosporins have been found to be produced by species of soil bacteria (actinomycetes). Many semisynthetic analogs have been tested for antibacterial effect, and several of them have found use as important clinically useful antibacterial agents, some of which may be taken orally for treatment of bacterial infections. The cephalosporins are the second class of beta-lactam antibiotic to be discovered, the first being the penicillins and more recent classes being the thienamycins and sulfazecins. The cephamycins are a variant of cephalosporins with a methoxyl group on the beta-lactam ring, rendering them more resistant to penicillinases. Among the cephalosporins which have been found clinically useful are cephalexin, cephaloridine, and cephalothin. [ PJC ]

n. [ Cephalo- + Gr. sty^los a pillar. ] (Anat.) The anterior end of the notochord and its bony sheath in the base of cartilaginous crania. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + thorax. ] (Zool.) The anterior portion of any one of the Arachnida and higher Crustacea, consisting of the united head and thorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + Gr. &unr_; to cut. ] (Med.) An instrument for cutting into the fetal head, to facilitate delivery. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Dissection or opening of the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) Craniotomy; -- usually applied to bisection of the fetal head with a saw. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + Gr. to rub, grind. ] An obstetrical instrument for performing cephalotripsy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Cephalotribe. ] (Med.) The act or operation of crushing the head of a fetus in the womb in order to effect delivery. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. kefalh` head + &unr_; wheel. ] (Zool.) A kind of annelid larva with a circle of cilia around the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. kefalh` head. ] (Zool.) Having a head; -- applied chiefly to the Cephalata, a division of mollusks. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bed blanket. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. dike`falos; di- = di`s- twice + kefalh` head. ] Having two heads on one body; double-headed. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. See Dia-, and Encephalon. ] (Anat.) The interbrain or thalamencephalon; -- sometimes abbreviated to dien. See Thalamencephalon. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Gr. dolicho`s long + kefalh` head. ] (Anat.) Having the cranium, or skull, long to its breadth; long-headed; -- opposed to brachycephalic. -- Dol`i*cho*ceph"al a. & n.

n. [ Gr. 'egke`falos the brain + kh`lh tumor. ] (Med.) Hernia of the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An encephaloid cancer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'egke`falos + -oid. ] Resembling the material of the brain; cerebriform. [ 1913 Webster ]

Encephaloid cancer (Med.), a very malignant form of cancer of brainlike consistency. See under Cancer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'egke`falos the brain + -logy. ] The science which treats of the brain, its structure and functions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. encephala [ NL. See Encephalos. ] (Anat.) The contents of the cranium; the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'egke`falos the brain + pa`schein, paqei^n, to suffer. ] (Med.) Any disease or symptoms of disease referable to disorders of the brain; as, lead encephalopathy, the cerebral symptoms attending chronic lead poisoning. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL., fr. Gr. 'egke`falos; 'en in + kefalh` head. ] (Anat.) The encephalon. [ 1913 Webster ]

In man the encephalos reaches its full size about seven years of age. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'egke`falos the brain + &unr_; a cutting. ] (Surg.) The act or art of dissecting the brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zoöl.) Having a head; -- said of most Mollusca; -- opposed to acephalous. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To surround with a halo. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. 'epi` upon, near + &unr_; brain. ] (Anat.) The segment of the brain next behind the midbrain, including the cerebellum and pons; the hindbrain. Sometimes abbreviated to epen. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Shallot. [ 1913 Webster ]