spinal column

right lateral view of an adult human spinal column

A. atlas

B. axis

C. cervical vertebrae

D. thoracic vertebrae

E. lumbar vertebrae

F. sacrum

G. coccyx

spinal column

The series of articulated vertebrae, separated by intervertebral disks and held together by muscles and tendons, that extends from the cranium to the coccyx or the end of the tail, encasing the spinal cord and forming the central support of the body; the spine. Also called vertebral column.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spinal column

(Anatomy) a series of contiguous or interconnecting bony or cartilaginous segments that surround and protect the spinal cord. Also called: spine, vertebral column or rachis Nontechnical name: backbone

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spi′nal col`umn

the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton in vertebrate animals; spine; backbone.

[1830–40]

spi·nal column

(spī′nəl)

See vertebral column.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

spinal column - the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord; "the fall broke his back"

spine, vertebral column, rachis, backbone, back

notochord - a flexible rodlike structure that forms the supporting axis of the body in the lowest chordates and lowest vertebrates and in embryos of higher vertebrates

chine - backbone of an animal

canalis vertebralis, spinal canal, vertebral canal - the canal in successive vertebrae through which the spinal cord passes

coccyx, tail bone - the end of the vertebral column in humans and tailless apes

vertebra - one of the bony segments of the spinal column

intervertebral disc, intervertebral disk - a fibrocartilaginous disc serving as a cushion between all of the vertebrae of the spinal column (except between the first two)

skeletal structure - any structure created by the skeleton of an organism

axial skeleton - the part of the skeleton that includes the skull and spinal column and sternum and ribs

Translations

σπονδυλική στήλη

colonna vertebrale

spinal column

n → colonna vertebrale, spina dorsale

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

spi·nal col·umn

n. columna o espina vertebral, estructura ósea formada por treinta y tres vértebras que rodean y contienen la médula espinal.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Pontellier's spinal column. It was not the first time she had heard an artist at the piano.

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The poor little wretch had a wart on his left eye, his head placed directly on his shoulders, his spinal column was crooked, his breast bone prominent, and his legs bowed; but he appeared to be lively; and although it was impossible to say in what language he lisped, his cry indicated considerable force and health.

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Michael was for growing restless at such searching examination, but Daughtry, in the midst of feeling out the lines and build of the thighs and hocks, paused and took Michael's tail in his magic fingers, exploring the muscles among which it rooted, pressing and prodding the adjacent spinal column from which it sprang, and twisting it about in a most daringly intimate way.

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By some extraordinary chance the ball struck it full on the back of the neck, shattering the spinal column, and that giraffe went rolling head over heels just like a rabbit.

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"There is an aperture just back of the rykor's mouth and directly over the upper end of his spinal column. Into this aperture I insert my tentacles and seize the spinal cord.

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The most important item of all, probably, although it made so little show, was a certain broomstick, on which Mother Rigby had taken many an airy gallop at midnight, and which now served the scarecrow by way of a spinal column, or, as the unlearned phrase it, a backbone.

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Their highest instinct of sportsmanship is to catch a man with his back turned and to smite him a cunning blow with a tomahawk that severs the spinal column at the base of the brain.

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She was a regular She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, and I want to tell you it chilled me to the marrow, sent those little thrills Marathoning up and down my spinal column, meeting a white woman out there at the head of a tribe of savages a thousand miles the other side of No Man's Land.

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Using specially designed sensory pads either side of the spinal column, your back muscles are stimulated to be automatically corrected to their most natural position.

Mirror OFFERS

The BD 31,000 digital X-Ray device enables to detect bone fractures in the limbs, spinal column and joints.

MoH receives advanced medical supplies

The VADERone implants are intended to restore the integrity of the spinal column even in the absence of fusion for a limited time period in patients with advanced stage tumours involving the thoracic and lumbar spine in whom life expectancy is of insufficient duration to permit achievement of fusion.

icotec AG awarded US FDA clearance to market VADER one pedicle screw system for spinal surgeries

They also devote several chapters to idiopathic and other deformities of the thoracic spinal column, including kyphosis and scoliosis.

Surgery of the Thoracic Spine: Principles and Techniques (online access included)