cerebraladj.n.
/ˈsɛrɪbrəl/ 1.
a. Pertaining or relating to the brain, or to the cerebrum; of the nature of or analogous to a brain, e.g. a cerebral ganglion. cerebral hemispheres: the two great divisions of the cerebrum. cerebral nerves: the twelve pairs of nerve-trunks which arise from the brain.
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the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > [adjective]
brainlike1798
cerebral1816
encephalic1828
cerebriform1834
cerebric1839
cerebroid1854
branular1857
retinocerebral1891
cerebrovascular1935
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > consonant > [adjective] > others
harda1722
lunar1776
solar1776
cerebral1816
emphatic1855
mobile1861
vocular1884
movable1933
pre-final1934
prenasalized1937
mellow1956
1816 W. Lawrence Compar. Anat. 500 If the nobler attributes of man reside in the cerebral hemispheres.
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table xii. 343 Written under cerebral excitement.
1871 W. A. Hammond Treat. Dis. Nerv. Syst. 33 Cerebral congestion.
1871 W. A. Hammond Treat. Dis. Nerv. Syst. 74 Cerebral hæmorrhage.
1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. iii. xliii. 491 Man's superior cerebral development.
b. Intellectual; appealing to the intellect (rather than to the emotions); clever.
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the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > [adjective] > appealing to intelligence
intellectual1788
juicy1838
cerebral1929
1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 60 Since we have become so cerebral We can't bear to touch or be touched.
1935 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 853 I was then trying to write; to be perhaps an artist..or to be at least cerebral.
1946 Amer. Speech 21 81 The only congresswoman who may be described plausibly as both cerebral and beautiful.
1951 R. Hoggart Auden i. 19 The verse of a young man..anxious to evolve a hard, cerebral style.
1959 Cambr. Rev. 25 Apr. 449/2 Everything is suitably cerebral, and the emotional sterility does not obtrude.
1970 Daily Tel. 19 May 16/4 A kind of cerebral comedy, pondering the difference between appearance of reality and keeping us on our intellectual toes.
2. cerebral letters n. a name given by some to a class of consonants recognized in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, developed from the dentals by retracting the tongue and applying its tip to the palate. Also as n.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > consonant > [noun] > cerebral
cerebral letters1805
1805 H. T. Colebrooke Gram. Sanskrit Lang. 24 A dental consonant..being contiguous to a cerebral, or following (not preceding) ष is changed to the corresponding cerebral.
1857 M. Williams Sanskrit Gram. i. 9 The..cerebrals should be..produced by turning back the tip of the tongue towards the palate, or top of the head (cerebrum).
1879 W. D. Whitney Sanskrit Gram. §45 Lingual series..They are called by the grammarians mūrdhanya, literally ‘head sounds, capitals, cephalics’; which term is in many European grammars rendered by ‘cerebrals’.
1918 D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics xvi. 100 Cacuminal sounds (also called ‘inverted’ sounds or ‘cerebral’ sounds) are defined as sounds in which the tip of the tongue is ‘inverted’ or curled upwards towards the hard palate.
1934 Year's Work in Eng. Stud. 1932 53 The consonant apparently became a cerebral (inverted) r before its disappearance.
Compounds
cerebral-palsied adj. affected with cerebral palsy; also absol.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [adjective] > palsy or paralysis > types of
paraplectic1661
hemiplegiac1802
hemiplegic1822
paraplegic1822
hemiplegian1842
athetoid1875
apraxic1892
monoplegic1896
quadriplegic1897
athetotic1898
spastic1903
tetraplegic1911
quadriparetic1956
cerebral-palsied1961
Tasered1976
1961 Lancet 19 Aug. 433/2 The Pædiatric Research Unit..is contributing to the study of..the special psychological problems of learning in cerebral-palsied children.
1973 Times 30 Oct. 2/7 Buildings and land housing St Margaret's School, Croydon, which provides specifically for the cerebral palsied, were leased rent-free to the school by two sisters.
cerebral palsy n. any of various non-progressive forms of paralysis caused by damage to motor areas of the brain before or during birth, manifested in early childhood by weakness and imperfect control of the affected muscles.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > palsy or paralysis > types of
mollification?a1425
hemiplexy1576
paraplegia1583
dead palsy?1594
hemiplegia1600
sideration1612
astrobolism1651
paresis1668
hemiplegy1755
general paralysis1820
refixation1825
Pott's disease1827
pamplegia1842
pamplegy1857
crossed palsy1858
transverse palsy1858
neuroparalysis1859
general paresis1862
athetosis1871
monoplegia1876
spastic paralysis1877
Landry's paralysis1882
Little's disease1884
cerebral palsy1889
paraparesis1890
hemiparesis1893
Pott's paraplegia1895
sleep-palsy1896
quadriplegia1897
pressure paralysis1899
Bell's palsy1904
taboparesis1910
tetraplegia1911
tick paralysis1914
quadriparesis1948
Landry–Guillain–Barré syndrome1957
1888 Lancet 14 Apr. 709/1 There are two classes of birth palsies, the ‘peripheral’ and the ‘cerebral’.]
1889 W. Osler Cerebral Palsies of Children i. 2 The cases are usually arranged under the generic terms cerebral palsies—the German Cerebrale Kinderlähmung—or spastic palsies, while the specific designation indicates the distribution of the paralysis, whether unilateral, bilateral, or paraplegic.
1940 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 14 Dec. 2119/1 Treatment depends on..the particular kind of cerebral palsy: spastic, athetoid or ataxic.
1955 Lancet 15 Jan. 146/1 Cerebral palsies may occur in mentally normal and in mentally deficient subjects.
1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. ii. xxxvi. 9/1 Many children with mild cerebral palsy require no medical treatment and, if they are of average intelligence, should be considered as normal children, though allowances may have to be made.
Derivatives
ˈcerebralism n. the theory that mental operations arise from the action of the brain; also, intellectualism.
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the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental action or process > psychology of mental action > [noun] > theory of brain activity
cerebralism1881
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > intellectual superiority > [noun] > intellectual matters > devotion to
intellectualism1800
bluestockingism1812
blue1824
cerebralism1881
eggheadism1956
egg-headedness1959
eggheadery1962
1881 N. Potter in Trans. Victoria Inst. XIV. 63 Bain's gross physiological cerebralism.
1892 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 326 A critic of cerebralism in psychology ought to do one of two things.
1931 C. Gray in Eng. Rev. Sept. 469 Excessive cerebralism on the one hand and excessive sensationalism on the other.
ˈcerebralist n. one who holds this theory; also, an intellectual, intellectualist.
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the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > intellectual superiority > [noun] > intellectual person
illuminate1602
intellectualist1605
intelligence1648
intellectual1652
aerialist1778
intellect1842
intellectuality1863
cerebralist1890
highbrow1898
longhair1920
egghead1952
boffin1954
boff1984
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental action or process > psychology of mental action > [noun] > theory of brain activity > follower of
cerebralist1890
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. 4 The spiritualist and the associationist must both be ‘cerebralists’.
1943 C. Williams Figure of Beatrice 20 So much only to prevent too great an ‘elevation’ of Dante's thought; we are not to suppose him a mere cerebralist.
ˌcerebraˈlistic adj. of or pertaining to cerebralism.
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the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental action or process > psychology of mental action > [adjective] > cerebralism
cerebralistic1892
1892 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 316 The cerebralistic point of view which is becoming so popular in psychology today.
cereˈbrality n. cerebral or intellectual quality, cleverness.
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the mind > mental capacity > intellect > [noun] > intellectual quality
thinkingness1672
mentality1856
cerebrality1901
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > [noun]
i-witc888
anyitOE
understandinga1050
ferec1175
skillwisenessa1200
quaintisec1300
brainc1325
cunning1340
reder1340
cunningnessa1400
sentencec1400
intelligence?1435
speculation1471
ingeny1474
cunningheadc1475
capacity1485
pregnancyc1487
dexterity1527
pregnance?1533
shift1542
wittiness1543
ingeniousness1555
conceitedness1576
pate1598
conceit1604
ingeniosity1607
dexterousness1622
talent1622
ingenuousness1628
solertiousnessa1649
ingenuity1651
partedness1654
brightness1655
solerty1656
prettiness1674
long head1694
long lega1705
cleverness1755
smartness1800
cleverality1828
brain power1832
knowledgeability1834
braininess1876
cerebrality1901
1901 Scribner's Mag. 29 505/2 There is one trait that belongs in common to every artistic effort of Americans, and that is the cerebrality..of such effort.
1903 Daily Chron. 9 May 4/5 The adventures of Sherlock Holmes are cerebrality raised to the power of n.
ˌcerebraliˈzation n. a making a consonant ‘cerebral’ (cf. labialization n., palatalization n.).
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > consonant > [noun] > cerebral > making
cerebralization1869
1869 W. H. Ferrar Compar. Gram. Sanskrit I. 340 Cerebralisation is a phenomenon that has arisen within the limits of the Sanskrit language.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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adj.n.1805