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Anything like , or serving the purpose of, a backbone. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country. Darwin. We have now come to the backbone of our subject. Earle.

Vertebrate.

d feme, husband and wife. [R.] Cowell. Baron of beef, two sirloins not cut asunder at the backbone. -- Barons of the Cinque Ports, formerly members of the House of Commons, elected by the seven Cinque Ports, two for each port. -- Baron of the exchequer, the judges of the Court of Exchequer, one of the three ancient c…

The backbone or spine of an animal; the back. "And chine with rising bristles roughly spread." Dryden.

Pertaining to, or having, a chine, or backbone; -- used in composition. Beau. & Fl.

A piece of the backbone of an animal, from between the neck and the collar bone, with the adjoining parts, cut for cooking; as, a chuck steak; a chuck roast. [Colloq.]

Destitute of a backbone; having no vertebræ; of or pertaining to the Invertebrata. -- n.

Having no backbone; invertebrate.

g vessel. The blood is colorless; the brain, renal organs, and limbs are wanting, and the backbone is represented only by a simple, unsegmented notochord. See Amphioxus. [Written also Leptocardii.]

Situated in the region of the rump, or posterior end of the backbone; -- applied especially to the posterior median plates in the carapace of chelonians.

The backbone. [Obs.] Blood . . . lying cluttered about the ridgebone. Holland.

The end of the backbone of an animal, with the parts adjacent; the buttock or buttoks.

A piece of meat containing a part of the backbone of an animal with the ribs on each side; as, a saddle of mutton, of venison, etc.

Rough with irregular points, or a broken surface; scraggy; as, a scragged backbone.

Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the backbone, or vertebral column; rachidian; vertebral.

The backbone, or spinal column, of an animal; -- so called from the projecting processes upon the vertebræ.

A joint of the backbone; a vertebra.

Whatever constitutes the principal strength or support of anything; power of endurance; backbone; vigor; as, the stamina of a constitution or of life; the stamina of a State. He succeeded to great captains who had sapped the whole stamina and resistance of the contest. De Quincey.

One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom, comprising all animals that have a backbone composed of bony or cartilaginous vertebræ, together with Amphioxus in which the backbone is represented by a simple undivided notochord. The Vertebrata always have a dorsal, or neural, cavity above the notochord or backbone,…

Having a backbone, or vertebral column, containing the spinal marrow, as man, quadrupeds, birds, amphibia, and fishes.