Acephʹalites (4 syl.)

properly means men without a head. (1) A faction among the Eutychʹians in the fifth century after the submission of Mongus their chief, by which they were “deprived of their head.” (2) Certain bishops exempt from the jurisdiction and discipline of their patriarch. (3) A sect of levellers in the reign of Henry I., who acknowledged no leader. (4) The fabulous Blemmyēs of Africa, who are described as having no head, their eyes and mouth being placed elsewhere. (Greek, a-kephʹalē, without a head.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.