Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cephalophoran.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of a group of Catholic martyrs who were supposed to carry their heads in their hands.
  • noun obsolete The family of mollusks with distinct heads.
  • noun obsolete The family of ventricose and filiform mushrooms.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French céphalophore, from Ancient Greek Κηφᾶς (Kēphâs) + -phore, from Ancient Greek -φορος (-phoros, "bearing"), a derivative of φέρειν (phérein, "to bear, to carry")

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Comments

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  • An iconographic term. The cephalophore in religious (esp. medieval Christian) art is a beheaded saint who displays his severed head to an audience.

    December 12, 2006

  • A cephalophore (from the Greek for "head-carrier") is a saint who is generally depicted carrying his or her own head; in art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by beheading. Handling the halo in this circumstance offers a unique challenge for the artist. Some put the halo where the head used to be; others have the saint carrying the halo along with the head.

    The term "cephalophore" was first used in a French article by Marcel Hébert, "Les martyrs céphalophores Euchaire, Elophe et Libaire", in Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles, v. 19 (1914).

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalophore

    April 28, 2016

  • oddlyspecific.com

    April 28, 2016

  • I think I should use this to refer to a motorcyclist carrying his/her helmet.

    April 28, 2016

  • They Might Be Giants has a song about falling in love with a cephalophore. https://youtu.be/anWrcmKsYI8

    April 28, 2016

  • I think TankHughes deseves some sort of word hoarder's trophy for knowing about this They Might Be Giants song.

    May 1, 2016

  • I <3 the -phore/-fer morpheme. It sticks out to me

    I made a comic about it: http://tankhughes.com/?p=239

    I made a list about it: https://www.wordnik.com/lists/bher--to-bear-or-carry

    So... I'll accept the award, but I don't know what to wear to the ceremony.

    May 1, 2016