1. From the Latin parietalis meaning "belonging to the wall" which the ancient anatomists used to designate the wall, as of a body cavity.

• Parietal bone: the main side bone of the skull.
• Parietal lobe: the main side lobe of the brain (it is beneath the parietal bone).
• Parietal pericardium: the outer membrane around the heart.
• Parietal peritoneum: the membrane lining the abdominal cavity (as opposed to the visceral peritoneum that envelops the abdominal organs).

2. Pertaining to, or situated near the side and top of the skull or the parietal bone.
3. Pertaining to or arising from a wall; usually applied to ovules when they proceed from or are borne on the walls or sides of the ovary.
4. A reference to an authority over residence; especially, visitation regulations between the sexes, within the walls or buildings of a college or university; campus regulations governing visits between members of opposite sexes to each other's dormitories or rooms; such as, a listing of the parietal regulations for the law students' dormitory.

Engravings and paintings on cave walls and a few open sites.

Parietal art has been found mostly in France and northern Spain, with a few Italian sites, and perhaps others even more distant.