cephal-
(ˈsɛfəl)
combining form of Gr. κεϕαλή head, as ˈcephalad adv. Zool. [-ad], towards the head; cephaˈletron (sɛfəˈliːtrɒn) Zool. [Gr. ἦτρον abdomen], Owen's name for the head or anterior division of the body of some of the crustaceans, as the king-crab; hence cephaletral adj.; ˌcephalhæmaˈtoma Path., a bloody swelling beneath the pericranium; cephalˈhydrocele Path., a serous or watery swelling outside the cranium; cephaˈlotic a. Biol. [Gr. ὠτ-, οὖς ear], characterized by the presence of the ears on the middle line of the head.
| 1887 Wilder in Amer. Nat. June 545 In Ceratodus alone..is there a prerima,—that is, a rima extending cephalad from the margin of the porta. |
| 1872 Cephaletral [see thoracetral s.v. thoraco-]. 1872 Cephaletron [see thoracetron s.v. thoraco-]. 1900 Dorland Med. Dict. 147/1 Cephalhematoma. 1962 Lancet 6 Jan. 54/1 There were 2 cases of cephalhaematoma (5·2%), which resolved by the age of 1 month. |
| 1900 Dorland Med. Dict. 147/1 Cephalhydrocele. 1908 Practitioner Apr. 466 The conditions necessary for the formation of a cephalhydrocele are a fracture with laceration of the dura. |
| 1894 W. Bateson Stud. Variation 458 Dareste also declares that the cephalotic state is similarly first indicated by a premature union of the folds in the region of the medulla. |