spine
spine / spīn/ • n. 1. a series of vertebrae extending from the skull to the small of the back, enclosing the spinal cord and providing support for the thorax and abdomen; the backbone. ∎ fig. a thing's central feature or main source of strength: players who will form the spine of our team. ∎ fig. resolution or strength of character. ∎ the part of a book's jacket or cover that encloses the inner edges of the pages, facing outward when the book is on a shelf and typically bearing the title and the author's name.2. Zool. & Bot. any hard pointed defensive projection or structure, such as a prickle of a hedgehog, a spikelike projection on a sea urchin, a sharp ray in a fish's fin, or a spike on the stem of a plant. ∎ Geol. a tall mass of viscous lava extruded from a volcano.DERIVATIVES: spined adj. [in comb.] broken-spined paperbacks.
spine
spine
1. See vertebral column.
2. A hard pointed protective structure on a plant that is formed through modification of a leaf, part of a leaf, or a stipule. The edge of the holly leaf is drawn out into spines, but in cacti the whole leaf is modified as a spine. Compare prickle; thorn.
spine
spine
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