vertebra
(ˈvɜːtɪbrə)
Pl. vertebræ (ˈvɜːtɪbriː); also 7–8 vertebras.
[a. L. vertebra joint, joint of the spine, f. vertĕre to turn. Hence It., Sp., Pg. vertebra, F. vertèbre: cf. vertebre.]
1. Anat. and Zool. One or other of the joints composing the spinal column in man or other vertebrate animals; any segment of the backbone.
| α 1615 Crooke Body of Man (1631) 930 The vertebra in the middest receiueth that spondell which is aboue it. 1634 A. Read Descr. Body Man C vj/1 The transvers processe of the first vertebra. a 1728 Woodward Fossils (1729) I. ii. 82 A large Vertebra of a Fish. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 367 The Thoracic Duct or canal runs..as far as the fifth vertebra of the back. 1788 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 726 The œsophagus..terminates in the stomach about the eleventh or twelfth vertebra of the back. 1840 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. (1842) 7 A Vertebra consists of a body, two laminæ, a spinous process, two transverse processes, and four articular processes. 1881 Mivart Cat 35 Each of these small bones is called a vertebra. |
| Comb. 1839 G. Roberts Dict. Geol. 180 Vertebralis,..vertebra-like. |
| β 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 42 The Lamprey..hath a Cartilaginous flexible Tube or Channel, without any Vertebræ or Spondyls in it. 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 132 Having no vertebræ in the back-bone,..he [sc. the crocodile] goes straight forwards, not being able to turn. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 362 For there be some with fewer Vertebræ in their Necks than others. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) II. 140 The vertebræ of the neck [of the ourang-outang] also were shorter. 1851 S. P. Woodward Mollusca i. i. 3 A backbone, composed of numerous joints, or vertebræ. 1867 F. Francis Angling iii. 73 The angler should..sever the vertebræ at the back of the neck. |
| transf. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 233 The shattered vertebræ of the [Roman] aqueducts. |
| γ 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Isagoge b 8 b, Their vertebra's are cartilagineous and flexile. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 461 The Vertebra's descending from the Back. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Cyphoma,..a bending backwards of the Vertebra's, or Turning-joynts of the Back. 1770 Phil. Trans. LXI. 134 It..extended..to the right ovarium, and vertebras of her back. |
b. With particularizing terms.
| 1726 Monro Anat. Bones 178 The Spine is commonly divided into true and false Vertebræ. 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 169 The lumbar vertebræ, as they descend, have their oblique processes at a greater distance from each other. 1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. i. 624 The cervical vertebra..differs in this respect from the dorsal vertebra; this from the lumbar vertebra; this from the sacral vertebra; and this from the coccygeal vertebra. 1854 Owen in Orr's Circ. Sci., Org. Nat. I. 193 This unusually developed spine of the mesencephalic vertebra. Ibid. 236 In the odd-toed..ungulates, the dorso-lumbar vertebræ differ in different species. 1866 Huxley Preh. Rem. Caithn. 109 A horse's skull with its upper cervical vertebræ. 1872 ― Phys. vii. 171 The odontoid peg of the axis vertebra. |
2. pl. (with
the). The vertebral column; the spine or backbone.
| a 1627 Middleton Anything for Quiet Life iii. i, I will finde where his Disease of Cozenage lay, whether in the Vertebræ, or in Oscox-Index [= Os Coxendix]. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 2 May 1644, They show also the ribs and vertebræ of the same beast. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A Weakness of the Ligaments and Muscles fasten'd to the backside of the Vertebræ. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy ii. ix, Dr. Slop's figure, coming..waddling thro' the dirt upon the vertebræ of a little diminutive pony. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 27 They are articulated at one extremity with the vertebræ. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xv. 160 The vertebræ of a whale similar to that at the igloë of Anoatok. 1872 Huxley Phys. i. 6 The bones thus cut through are called the bodies of the vertebræ. |
| fig. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 429, I should have known you for a true Search by the pliableness of your neck: the Knowals have a wonderful stiffness in the vertebræ. |
b. Without article.
| 1849 Murchison Siluria xx. 478 Large fossil fishes with vertebræ sometimes ossified. 1861 Musgrave By-roads 314 He had made the tour of all Europe without once leaning back in his carriage! This indicated matchless rigidity of fibre and strength of vertebræ. |
3. In
sing. = sense 2.
rare—1.
| 1791 Walker Pron. Dict. s.v. 1876 J. G. Wood Nat. Hist. 501 We now enter upon another vast division in which there is no true brain and no vertebra. |
4. Zool. (See
quots.)
| 1704 Ray Disc. ii. iv. (1713) 182 Great Stones, and even broken Pieces of Lime-stone Rocks,..almost wholly compos'd of those Vertebræ, or broken Pieces of the Radii of Sea-Stars, which are commonly call'd Fairy-Stones. 1891 Cent. Dict., Vertebra, in echinoderms, any one of the numerous axial ossicles of the arms of starfishes. |