[a. F. coronal (Paré 16th c.), or ad. L. corōnāl-is, f. corōna crown.]
† 1. Pertaining or relating to a crown, or to coronation, Obs.
1577. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Chron., 132. The tribute coronall, that is to saye, the money that was giuen vnto the Emperours for their Coronation.
1649. Milton, Eikon., vi. (1851), 386. The Law and his Coronal Oath requires his undeniable assent to what Laws the Parlament agree upon.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 27. Coronal gems of every dye.
2. Anat. and Zool. a. Coronal suture († commissure): the transverse suture of the skull separating the frontal bone from the parietal bones. So coronal region (of the forehead), etc. Coronal bone: the frontal bone.
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg. (1586), 330 b. Vpon the coronall commissure.
1548–77. Vicary, Anat., iii. (1888), 27. The Coronal bone, in which is ye Orbyts or holes of the Eyes.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 434. The Coronall suture or crowny seame.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxv. Wherewith he hit him in the coronal joynt of his head.
1718. J. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos. (1730), I. xi. § 2. At the Top of the Head where the sagittal and coronal Sutures cross each other.
1841. Cruveilhier’s Anat., I. 46, in Libr. Med., VII. The Frontal or Coronal Bone.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 62–3. The parietal also articulates anteriorly (f) with the frontal by the coronal suture.
b. Of or pertaining to the crown of the head.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 235. The Crested-Lark…. Coronal tuft of elongated acuminated feathers.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 314. The coronal region is ignobly flat.
† c. = CORONARY a. 3 a. Obs.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., s.v. Vein, Coronal veine, the Crown-vein; a branch of the spleen-veine, so termed because it environs the heart in manner of a Crown.
d. Pertaining to the corona (in various senses: see CORONA 6).
1846. Dana, Zooph. (1848), 233. The coronal teeth are less prominent.
3. Bot. Pertaining to, or of the nature of, a corona (in varions senses: see CORONA 7).
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), I. 294. The pipe of communication between the seminal and coronal roots.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 108. The coronal processes of Silene.
4. Astron. Of or pertaining to the sun’s corona.
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, ii. 49. The bright lines of the coronal spectrum correspond in position to those seen in the spectrum of the aurora.
1871. Daily News, 12 Jan., 5/2. So abundant is the coronal light in the air itself during totality.
1891. Huggins, in Nature, 20 Aug., 373/1. Of the physical and the chemical nature of the coronal matter we know very little.
