vertebra

[vur-tuh-bruh]

noun, plural ver·te·brae

[vur-tuh-bree, -brey] /ˈvɜr təˌbri, -ˌbreɪ/, ver·te·bras. Anatomy, Zoology.

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.

Origin of vertebra

1570–80; < Latin: (spinal) joint, equivalent to verte(re) to turn (see verse) + -bra noun suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vertebra

Contemporary Examples of vertebra

I have no idea when the second vertebra went out during the battle.
Send Bin Laden the Bill: Dakota Meyer on His Return From Afghanistan
Dakota Meyer
September 29, 2012
One vertebra had given way in Ganjigal when I picked up an Askar and slipped in the bloody mud under him.
Send Bin Laden the Bill: Dakota Meyer on His Return From Afghanistan
Dakota Meyer
September 29, 2012

Historical Examples of vertebra

It is the vertebra which steadies him plumb up to a positive perpendicular.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 11, June 11, 1870
Various
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 Mystery
Rebecca N. Porter
The base of the neural arch is also concave in this vertebra.
The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphidae
Frederick True
They are last traceable on the eighth or ninth caudal (vertebra 35 or 36).
The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphidae
Frederick True

British Dictionary definitions for vertebra

vertebra

noun plural -brae (-briː) or -bras

one of the bony segments of the spinal column

Derived Formsvertebral, adjectivevertebrally, adverb

Word Origin for vertebra

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

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.

vertebra in Medicine

vertebra

[vûr′tə-brə]

n. pl. ver•te•bras

Any of the bones or cartilaginous segments of the spinal column, usually 33 in number.

vertebra in Science

vertebra

[vûr′tə-brə]

Plural vertebrae (vûr′tə-brā′, -brē′) vertebras

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.