acephalyn.
/(ˌ)eɪˈsɛfəli/, /(ˌ)eɪˈsɛfl̩i/, /(ˌ)eɪˈkɛfəli/, /(ˌ)eɪˈkɛfl̩i/, U.S. /eɪˈsɛfəli/ Medicine and Zoology.
Absence of the head, esp. as a congenital malformation. Cf. acephalia n.
ΚΠ
1831 J. F. South tr. A. W. Otto Compend. Human & Compar. Pathol. Anat. xv. 209 The Breast-bone is sometimes entirely wanting, or is often very imperfectly formed in monsters with acephaly [Ger. Acephalie] and prolapse of the viscera of the chest and belly.
1885 N. Amer. Jrnl. Homœopathy 15 435 It [sc. chlorosis]..leads sometimes to sterility, miscarriages, or to giving birth to weak and deformed babes, suffering from pes varus, spina bifida, acephaly and other defects of development.
1916 Jrnl. Morphol. 28 112 Differential inhibition in the antero-posterior axis in the early stages of development may produce various gradations from the normal form to acephaly.
1987 Daily Tel. 5 Oct. 18/5 A blanket prohibition on late abortion has the disadvantage that it will not permit late abortion of babies with gross defects (such as acephaly) that could never be born alive.
2005 P. J. Gullan & P. S. Cranston Insects (ed. 3) xv. 392/1 The larvae lack true legs.., and their head structure ranges from a complete sclerotized capsule to acephaly with no external capsule and only an internal skeleton.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1831