a. [f. med. or mod.L. crāni-um (a. Gr. κρᾱνιον) skull + -AL.] Pertaining to the cranium or skull; strictly, pertaining to the cranium proper or brain-case, as in cranial bones. Cranial nerves: the great nerve-trunks arising from the brain and passing through openings in the cranium; = CEREBRAL nerves.
1800. Med. Jrnl., III. 138. The imperfection of the cranial bones, was similar to the case before related.
1840. G. Ellis, Anat., 21. The second or optic nerve, the largest of the cranial nerves, except the fifth.
1864. Reader, 5 March. The cranial capacity of the largest chimpanzee measured is 271/2 cubic inches, that of the smallest man being 55.
Hence Cranially adv., in regard to the cranium.
1866. Laing & Huxley, Preh. Rem. Caithn., 132. Two sections of mankind may be very similar cranially, and yet very different in other respects.
