skulk 
skulk (skulk). H. [Also xmllc, < skull; -.] 1. 
Same as skulker. 
Ye do hut bring each runaway and skulk 
Hither to seek a shelter. 
Sir H. Taylor, Isaac Comnenus, iv. 2. 
"Here, Brown ! East ! you cursed young skulks," roared 
out Flashman, coming to his open door, "I know you're 
in no shirking." T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 8. 
2f. A number of foxes together; hence, a num- 
ber of other animals or of persons together: as, 
a skulk of thieves. 
Scrawling serpents with sculcks of poysoned adders. 
Stanikurtt, Conceites, p. 138. 
When beasts went together in companies, there was 
said to be ... a drove of kine ; a flock of sheep ; a tribe 
of goats ; a skulk of foxes. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 80. 
skulker (skul'ker), n. [Also sculker ; < ME. 
sculkere,sculcare; < skulk + -er 1 .] 1. One who 
skulks, shrinks, or sneaks, as from danger, 
duty, or work. 
There was a class of skulkers and gamblers brought into 
Andersonville from both the Eastern and Western armies, 
captured in the rear by the rebel raiders. 
The Century. XL. 606. 
2. pi. In ornitli., specifically, the Latitores. 
Skulkers is the descriptive title applied to the Water- 
Rail, the Corn-Crake, and their allies, which evade ene- 
mies by concealment. H. Spencer, Priu. of Biol., i 349. 
Skulkingly (skul'king-K), adv. In a skulking 
or sneaking manner, 
skulking-place (skul'king-plas), H. A place 
for skulking or lurking; a hiding-place. 
They are hid, concealed, . . . and everywhere find re- 
ception and skulking-placct. Bacon, Fables, x., Expl. 
skull 1 (skul), n. [Formerly also scull, also in 
orig. sense skoll; < ME. skulte, scolle, sculle, also 
schutte, a bowl, the skull or cranium (so called 
from the bowl-like shape; cf. head-pan, brain- 
pan), < Icel. skill = Sw. skdl = Dan. skaal, 
a bowl, cup: see scale 2 ; of. skoal, skull 2 = 
6CH 2 , etc.] 1. A bowl; a bowl to hold 
liquor; a goblet. Jamieson. [Scotch.] 2. 
The cranium; the skeleton of the head; the 
bony or cartilaginous framework of the head, 
containing the brain and supporting the face. 
5678 
skullcap 
Human Skull, from the side, with the mandible disarticulated. 
a t alisphenoid. or greater wing of sphenoid ; au, external auditory 
meatus; bh, basihyal, or body of hyoid bone; c, occipital condyle; 
c', ceratohyal, or lesser cornu of hyoid, the dotted line representing the 
course and attachments of the stylohyotd ligament (see epihyal) \ co t 
coronal suture ; cr t coronoid process of mandible ; cy, condyle of man- 
dible ; f, frontal bone ; j, malar or juga! bone ; I, lacrymal hone (the 
letter is placed in front of the nasal notch, and its line crosses the base 
of the nasal process of the maxilla) ; /a, lambdoid suture ; m, mas- 
toid process of temporal; ma, mandible; mx, maxilla, or superior 
maxillary bone ; n, nasal bone ; o, occipital bone ; /, parietal bone ; 
pt, pterygoid process of sphenoid ; s, squainosal section of temporal ; 
sg, squamosal suture ; st, styloid process of temporal bone (or stylo- 
hyal) ; fy, thyrohyal, or greater curnu of hyoid. 
A skull is possessed by all vertebrates excepting the lance- 
lets, and by no other animals. It is sometimes divided 
into the skull proper, cranium in strictness or brain-box, 
and the facial region or face. In the adult human skull 
eight cranial and fourteen facial bones are commonly enu- 
merated, though the real number of osseous elements is 
much larger. The eight cranial bones are the occipital, 
two parietal, two temporal, frontal, sphenoid, and ethmoid. 
The fourteen facial bones are two nasals, two lacrymals, two 
superior maxillaries, two malars, two palatals, two inferior 
turbinals, one inferior maxillary, and one vomer. This enu- 
meration of the bones is exclusive of thebonelets of the ear, 
which, however, are counted in vertebrates below mam- 
mals. Of these bones, the mandible, vomer, and frontal 
are really paired, or of lateral halves ; the su pram axillary, 
ethmoid, sphenoid, occipital, and temporal are compound 
bones of several separate centers of ossification ; the rest 
are simple. The most composite bone is the temporal, 
whose ankylosed stylohyoid process (peculiar to man) is an 
element of the hyoid arch. A skull of similar construction 
characterizes mammals at large, though its figure is usually 
quite different (owing mainly to production of the facial 
and reduction of the cranial parts), and though some of the 
bones which are confluent in man may remain distinct In 
birds the skull is characterized by the great size of the cra- 
nial bones in comparison with that of the facial bones (ex- 
cepting the specially enlarged intermaxillary and infra- bortie upon the bones above tunned, and also, in that 
maxillary), the extensive and complete ankyloses of cranial case, upon the sphenoid, vomer, palatals, pterygoids, hy- 
bones, the permanent and perfect distinctness of pterygoid oids, pharyngeals, etc. The body of facts or principles 
concerning skulls is craniology, of which craniometry is 
one department, especially applied to the measurement of 
human skulls for the purposes of ethnography or anthro- 
pology. For the human skull (otherwise than as here 
B 
t 
figured), see cuts under craniofacial, craniometry, crani- 
wm, earl, nasal, orbit, palate, parietal, and skeleton. For 
various other mammalian skulls, see cuts under Balx- 
nidte, Canidse, castor, Catarrhina, Edentata, Elt'phantiitfe, 
Equidx, Felidx, Leporidff, MoModonthut, Mimdfe, nx, 
physeter, Pteropadidee, ruminant, skeleton. Birds' skulls, 
or parts of them, are figured under chandrocranium, des- 
moynathoits, diploe, dromseoynathous, GaUinse. Icltthyornis, 
quadrate, salivary, sauroynathous, schizognathous, schizo- 
i-liliiid, sclerotal ; reptiles', under acrodont, Chelonia, Croco- 
dilia, Crotalus, Cyclodus, Ichthyosauria, Ichthyosaurus, 
Mosasaurus, Ophidia, periotic, I'lofiosaurus, pleurodont, 
pterodactyl, Pythonidie ; batrachians', under Anura, gir- 
dle-bone, Jtana ; fishes', under Acipenser, Esox, Jish, Lepi- 
dosiren, palatoquadrate, parasphenoid, Petromyzon, Spatu- 
laria, Sonatina, teteost. The absence of a skull appears 
under Bramhiostoma and Pharungobmnchii. The homol- 
ogy of several visceral arches is shown under hyoid. 
Tep him o the schulle. 
Ancren Riwle, p. 296. 
/>'. Base of Human Skull, right half, outside, under surface: bo, 
basinccipital, or basilar process ; f. occipital condyle ; e, entrance to 
Eustachian tube, reference -line e crossing foramen lacerum medium, 
between which and e and 5 is petrous part of temporal bone ; f, glen- 
oid fossa of temporal bone, for articulation of lower jaw; m, mastoid 
process ; n, posterior nares ; ft, pterygoid fossa ; so, supra -occipital ; 
st. styloid process ; x. malar bone, joining zygomalic process of squa- 
mosal to form zygomatic arch or zygoma; i, 2, anterior and pos- 
terior palatine foramen ; 3, points in front of foramen lacerum medi- 
um ; 4, foramen ovale ; 5, carotid canal ; 6, stylomastoid foramen ; 7, 
foramen lacerum posterius, or jugular foramen. 
C. Base of Human Skull, left side, interior or cerebral surface : a, 
alisphenoid, or greater wing of sphenoid ; bo, basioccipital, or basilar 
process of occipital ; f, cribriform plate of ethmoid ; /, orbital plate of 
frontal ; f. crista galli ; o, orbitosphenoid, or lesser wing of sphenoid ; 
/, pituitary fossa or sella turcica ; pa, parietal ; so, supra-occipital ; 
sq, squamosal ; 3, foramen lacerum medium ; 4, foramen ovalc (near 
it in front is foramen rotundum, behind externally is foramen sptno- 
sum); 6, foramen lacerum posterius (just beneath o is foramen lace- 
rum anterius); 7, meatus auditorius internus, in the petrous portion of 
temporal, between which and orbitosphenoki is the middle fossa, be- 
hich fossa is the anterior fossa ; behind the middle fossa is the 
fore 
pOStl 
r or cerebellar fossa. 6 is in foramen magnum. 
bones, the formation of each half of the lower jaw by sever- 
al recognizable pieces, and especially by the intervention 
of a movable quadrate bone between the squamosal and 
the mandible. Some other additional bones make their 
appearance ; and the occipital condyle is always single. A 
skull of similar construction to that of birds characterizes 
reptiles proper ; but here again the cranial is small in com- 
parison with the facial region (as in the lower mammals), 
sometimes excessively so ; the skull is more loosely con- 
structed, with fewer ankyloses of its several elements ; and 
some additional bones not found in any higher vertebrates 
first appear. The skulls of batrachians differ widely from 
all the above. Some additional elements appear; some 
usually ossifled elements may be persistently cartilagi- 
nous ; and branchial as well as hyofdean arches are seen 
to be parts of the skull. The further modifications of 
the skull in fishes are great and diversified : not only is 
there much variation in the skulls of different fishes, 
but also the difference between any of their skulls and 
those of higher vertebrates is so great that some of the 
I'Hurs can be only doubtfully homologized with those of 
higher vertebrates, while of others no homologues can be 
recognized. In these ichthyopsidan vertebrates, also, the 
skull is sometimes permanently cartilaginous, as in sela- 
chians ; in the lampreys the lower jaw disappears ; in the 
lancelets there is no skull. In fishes, also, more or few- 
er branchial arches are conspicuous parts of the skull, 
forming usually, with the compound lower jaw, by far the 
bulkier section of this collection of bones ; and in some of 
them the connection of the shoulder-girdle with the skull 
is such that it is not always easy to say of certain bones 
whether they are more properly scapular or cranial. The 
natural evolution of the skull is, of course, from the lower 
to the higher vertebrates (the reverse of that above 
sketched). Above lampreys and hags, after a lower jaw 
has been acquired, the general course of evolution of the 
skull is to the reduction in number of its bones or carti- 
lages by the entire disappearance of some and the conflu- 
ence of others, tending on the whole to the compactness, 
simplicity, and symmetry of which the human skull is the 
extreme case, and in which, as in the skull of any mam- 
mal or bird, evidences of its actual osseous elements are 
chiefly to be traced in the transitory centers of ossification 
of the embryo. A good illustration of this is witnessed in 
the condition of the bones of the tongue (hyoid arch) in 
mammals; for even in birds (next below mammals) the 
tongue has a skeleton of several distinct bones, the posi- 
tion of which in a series of arches next after the mandibu- 
lar and next before the branchial arches proper is evi- 
dent. The base of the skull is generally laid down in car- 
tilage. The dome of the skull and the facial parts are usu- 
ally of membrane-bones ; and to the latter some dermal 
or exoskeletal bones may be added. Facial parts of all 
skulls are of different character from cranial parts proper, 
in that they belong essentially to the series of visceral 
(hemal. not neural) arches : (1) upper jaw ; (2) under jaw ; 
(3) tongue (hyoid), followed by more or fewer successive 
branchial arches. The neural arches, or cranial segments 
proper, are at least 3 (some count 4) in number, named 
occipital, parietal, and frontal, from behind forward, rep- 
resented respectively by (1) the occipital bone ; (2) the 
basisphenoid, alisphenoid, and parietal bones; (3) the 
presphenoid, orbitosphenoid, and frontal bones. With 
these are intercalated or connected the sense-capsules of 
the three higher senses namely, of hearing, sight, and 
smell these being the skeletons of the ear, eye, and nose, 
or the petrosal parts of the temporal, the sclerotic coat of 
the eye, and the lateral masses of the ethmoid bone. Re- 
maining hard parts of the head, and, as such, elements of 
the skull, are the teeth, borne on more or fewer bones : in 
mammals, when present, confined to the premaxillaries, 
supramaxillaries, andinframaxillaries ; not present in any 
existing birds; in various reptiles and fishes, absent, or 
This land [shall] be call'd 
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls. 
Shak., Rich. II., iv. 1. 144. 
3. The head as the seat of intelligence; the 
sconce or noddle : generally used disparag- 
ingly. 
With various readings stored his empty skull, 
I.earn'd without sense, and venerably dull. 
Churchill, Rosciad, 1. 591. 
Skulls that cannot teach, and will not learn. 
Cvwper, Task, ii. 394. 
4. In armor, that part of a head-piece which 
covers the crown of the head, especially in the 
head-pieces made up of many parts, such as 
the armet. See cut under secret. 
Then- armour is a coate of plate, with a skull on their 
heads. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 239. 
First Gent.. Dare you go forward? 
Lieut. Let me put on my skull first ; 
My head 's almost beaten into the pap of an apple. 
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4. 
5. A large shallow basket without a bow-han- 
dle, used for carrying fruit, potatoes, fish, etc. 
[Scotch.] 6. In metal., the crust which is 
formed by the cooling of a metal upon the 
sides of a ladle or any vessel used for contain- 
ing or conveying it in a molten condition. 
Such a crust or skull is liable to form on the Bessemer 
converter when the blowing has been continued beyond 
the point of entire decarburization. Stall and cross- 
bones, the allegorical representation of death, or of 
threatened death, in the form of a human skull set upon 
a pair of crossed thigh-bones. It is much used on drug- 
gists' labels of poisonous articles, and for like warnings ; 
it also appears among the insignia or devices of various 
secret societies, to impress candidates for initiation, to 
terrorize outsiders, etc. Skull of the ear, the petrosal 
part of the temporal bone ; the otic capsule, or otocrane ; 
the periotic bones collectively. See cut under periotic. 
Skull of the eye, the eyeball ; the sclerotic. See cut 
under sclerotal, n. Skull Of the nose. See nosei. Ta- 
bles of the skull, the outer and inner layers of compact 
bony substance of the cranial walls, separated by an inter- 
vening cancellated substance, the diploe. See cut under 
diploe. 
Skull' 2 , . See sculP. 
skul! 3 t, An obsolete form of school 2 . 
skull 4 (skul), . The common skua, Megalestris 
skua. Also scull. 
skullcap (skul'- 
kap), n. 1. Any 
cap fitting close- 
ly to the head; 
also, the iron cap 
of defense. See 
skuin, 4. 
The portrait of old Colonel Pyncheon, at two-thirds 
length, representing the stern features of a puritanic- 
looking personage, in a skull-cap, with a laced band and a 
grizzly beard. Hau'thorne, Seven Gables, ii. 
2. The sinciput ; the upper domed part of the 
skull, roofing over 
the brain ; the calva- 
rium. See cut under 
cranium. 3. A mu- 
rine rodent quadru- 
ped of the family Lo- 
/iliiomyiclse. Cones, 
1884. 4. A plant of 
the genus Scutellaria: 
so called from the 
helmet-like appen- 
dage to the upper lip 
of the calyx, which 
closes the mouth of 
the calyx after the 
fall of the corolla. 
The more familiar species, 
ratal, a, the caiy. 
n Skullcaps, i6th century. 
mended for the flower- 
