Meaning of spine in English

spine

noun [ C ]

/spaɪn/ us

/spaɪn/

spine noun [C] (BONE)

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the line of bones down the centre of the back that provides support for the body and protects the spinal cord:

She injured her spine in a riding accident.

figurative The Apennine mountains form the spine (= central row of mountains) of Italy.

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Age deforms the spine.
Injuries to the spine are common amongst these workers.
The doctor manipulated the base of my spine and the pain disappeared completely.
The lower part of her spine was crushed in the accident.
At its most terrifying, his writing sends shivers up and down my spine.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Bone structures

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spine noun [C] (POINT)

a long, sharp point like a needle growing out of an animal such as a hedgehog or a plant such as a cactus

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

The skin, hair & bone of non-human animals

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Parts of plants

spine noun [C] (BOOK PART)

the narrow strip where the cover of a book is joined to the pages, usually with the title and writer's name printed on it

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Books & parts of books

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(Definition of spine from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

spine | American Dictionary

spine

noun [ C ]

/spɑɪn/

spine noun [C] (BONE)

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(also backbone); (spinal column)

the line of bones down the center of the back that provides support for the body

spine noun [C] (POINT)

one of the thin, pointed objects that are part of the outer surface of some animals and plants:

Be careful of the cactus spines.

spine noun [C] (BOOK PART)

the end of a book where the pages are attached and which usually shows the writer’s name and title on its outer part

(Definition of spine from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of spine

spine

An enlarged view of those spines (fig. 6 inset) show that they are located in crater-like holes in the tegument.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The question of the exact determination was left ambiguous as no spines were visible on the margin of leaves.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The outer lip and inner ventral surface bear sharp spines and the tegumental surface has a honeycomb appearance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Marginal spines (fig. 7, c) long ; they are also set closely together and are less deciduous on the cephalic margin than elsewhere.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Prosopon on borders and spines consists of dense concentration of relatively fine tubercles; small number of larger tubercles scattered on pleural ridges and major spines.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In addition, forwardly projecting spines in the posterior of the canal prevent the female from slipping out into the bloodstream.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

More complete fragments show that the spines do not meet in the centre of the radiolarian.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Both cardinal corners with spines, more developed in posterior corner.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The dorsal side of the body exhibits similar surface features, but the spines and papillae appear less numerous and are smaller.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Under the scanning electron microscope its surface appears rough due to the presence of numerous spines and surface foldings.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The microfacies typically contains abundant cortoids and medium quartz sand together with phosphatic grains, echinoid spines and rare ooids.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Dendritic spines: role of active membrane in modulating synaptic efficacy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Most of the tegumental surface was very swollen and the spines appeared sunken.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The spinous body tegument begins to lose its spines and most of its common secretory bodies at about 8 mm distance from the nephridiopore tegument.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Fifteen spines are located dorsally in a double row (fig. 14).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with spine

spine

These are words often used in combination with spine.

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broken spine

A subsequent medical examination revealed that the man had a broken spine.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

cervical spine

Less frequently, ankles, elbows and cervical spine were affected.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

curved spine

The second dorsal fin is half again as tall as the first and bears a longer, curved spine.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

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What is the pronunciation of spine?

Translations of spine

in Chinese (Traditional)

骨, 脊柱, 脊椎…

Meaning of spine in English

spine noun [C] (BONE)

spine noun [C] (POINT)

spine noun [C] (BOOK PART)

spine | American Dictionary

spine noun [C] (BONE)

spine noun [C] (POINT)

spine noun [C] (BOOK PART)

Examples of spine

Collocations with spine

spine

Translations of spine

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