a. and sb. Obs. rare; also asephal. [a. Fr. acéphale, ad. late L. acephal-us: See ACEPHALI.]
A. adj. Having no head or chief; = ACEPHALOUS.
1549. Compl. Scot., xx. 167. There is ane vthir sort of veyris callit battellis asephales, that is, quhen the pepil gadris togiddir in ane grit conuentione but the autorite of the superior.
B. sb. A (supposed) headless animal; = ACEPHALAN.
1607. Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 9. The West region of Lybia and Æthiopia have great store of Cynocephals, Babouns, and Acephals, beasts without a head, whose eyes and mouth are in their breasts.
