cranium

[krey-nee-uh m] /ˈkreɪ ni əm/
noun, plural craniums, crania
[krey-nee-uh] /ˈkreɪ ni ə/ (Show IPA)
1.
the skull of a vertebrate.
2.
the part of the skull that encloses the brain.
Also called braincase.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English craneum < Medieval Latin crānium < Greek krāníon skull; akin to ceratokoi·ə , cerebrum, cornu, horn
Examples from the web for cranium
  • The human's is aligned more vertically, directly below the cranium.
  • The face and cranium of the fossil have features found in both early and modern human species.
  • To do so, they removed a small portion of the cranium and shined a laser light inside.
  • It's an unmistakable metaphor for a guy who finds the bony cranium an incidental obstacle to studying gray matter.
  • There must be a cranium with enough room for a brain and protection of it.
  • He makes you run to your iPod with an ungodly itch in your cranium.
  • The lateral surface is convex in adaptation to the concavity of the corresponding half of the vault of the cranium.
  • It had been gutted and carved and its back part cut away-the back of what would be, in a human, the cranium.
  • The interior of their cranium thus doesn't show the brain shape clearly.
  • The human brain, although encased by a heavy-duty cranium, isn't designed for football.
British Dictionary definitions for cranium

cranium

/ˈkreɪnɪəm/
noun (pl) -niums, -nia (-nɪə)
1.
the skull of a vertebrate
2.
the part of the skull that encloses the brain Nontechnical name brainpan
Word Origin
C16: from Medieval Latin crānium skull, from Greek kranion
Word Origin and History for cranium
n.

1540s, from Medieval Latin cranium, from Greek kranion "skull, upper part of the head," related to kara (poetic kras) "head," from PIE root *ker- "horn, head" (see horn (n.)). Strictly, the bones which enclose the brain.

cranium in Medicine

cranium cra·ni·um (krā'nē-əm)
n. pl. cra·ni·ums or cra·ni·a (-nē-ə)

  1. The bones of the head considered as a group; skull.

  2. The bony case enclosing the brain, excluding the bones of the face; braincase.

cranium in Science
cranium
  (krā'nē-əm)   
Plural craniums or crania
The vertebrate skull, especially the part that encloses and protects the brain.
cranium in Culture
cranium [(kray-nee-uhm)]

The part of the skull that encloses the brain.