spine
Meanings
noun
- A series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a human, or from the head to the tail of an animal, enclosing the spinal cord and providing support for the thorax and abdomen.
- Courage or assertiveness.
- Something resembling a backbone, such as a ridge, or a long, central structure from which other structures radiate.
- The narrow, bound edge of a book that encloses the inner edges of the pages, facing outwards when the book is on a shelf and typically bearing the title and the author's and publisher's name.
- A pointed, fairly rigid protuberance or needlelike structure on an animal, shell, mushroom or plant. The botanical term technically refers to such a structure derived from a leaf or part of a leaf.
- The heartwood of trees.
- Ellipsis of dendritic spine.
- A linear payscale operated by some large organizations that allows flexibility for local and specific conditions.
- A tall mass of viscous lava extruded from a volcano.
- The stiffness of an arrow.
- A central part which supports a whole; core.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From late Middle English spyne, from Old French espine (French épine) or its source, Latin spīna (“a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone”). Doublet of spina.
Synonyms
Related words
Derived words
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.