occiput Chiefly Anat.
(ˈɒksɪpʌt)
[L. occiput back of head, f. ob- against + caput head: in F. occiput (1372 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
The back or hinder part of the head.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De. P.R. v. iv. (1495) 108 The occiput, the nolle, is the hynder parte of the heed.] 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. i. 516 Your occiput. I meane your head peece. c 1645 Howell Lett. II. xvii, Expedition is the life of action, otherwise Time may shew his bald occiput, and shake his posteriors at them in derision. 1699 Phil. Trans. XXI. 400 Ruffians, who first by a Blow on the Occiput knockt him to the Ground. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 365 Occiput (the Occiput). The back part of the head when it is vertical, or nearly so, to its point of junction with the trunk. 1881 Mivart Cat 81 The straight but inclined line of the occiput. |
b. The occipital bone of the skull.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man Proem B iv, The first Vertebre inseparably growne to Occiput. 1836 Sir G. Head Home Tour 263 It was but half a skull,..the occiput had entirely disappeared. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times xiv. (1869) 506 The American skulls are characterised by a flattened occiput. |