vertebra
[vur-tuh-bruh]
- any of the bones or segments composing the spinal column, consisting typically of a cylindrical body and an arch with various processes, and forming a foramen, or opening, through which the spinal cord passes.
Show More
Origin of vertebra
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for vertebra
Contemporary Examples
I have no idea when the second vertebra went out during the battle.
One vertebra had given way in Ganjigal when I picked up an Askar and slipped in the bloody mud under him.
Historical Examples
It is the vertebra which steadies him plumb up to a positive perpendicular.
In woman the tail is generally290 by one vertebra longer than in man.
The History of Creation, Vol. I (of 2)Ernst Haeckel
The blow had dislodged a vertebra and I was in horrible pain.
The Rest Hollow MysteryRebecca N. Porter
The base of the neural arch is also concave in this vertebra.
The Beaked Whales of the Family ZiphidaeFrederick True
They are last traceable on the eighth or ninth caudal (vertebra 35 or 36).
The Beaked Whales of the Family ZiphidaeFrederick True
vertebra
- one of the bony segments of the spinal column
Show More
Word Origin
C17: from Latin: joint of the spine, from vertere to turn
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for vertebra
n.
1610s, from Latin vertebra "joint or articulation of the body, joint of the spine" (plural vertebræ), perhaps from vertere "to turn" (see versus) + instrumental suffix -bra. The notion is of the spine as the "hinge" of the body.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
vertebra
(vûr′tə-brə)- Any of the bones or cartilaginous segments of the spinal column, usually 33 in number.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
vertebra
[vûr′tə-brə]
- Any of the bones that make up the vertebral column. Each vertebra contains an arched, hollow section through which the spinal cord passes. In humans, the vertebrae are divided into cervical, thoracic, and lumbar sections, and the sacrum and coccyx are both made up of a series of fused vertebrae. The vertebrae are separated by cartilaginous intervertebral disks. See more at skeleton.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.