The Collaborative International Dictionary
Thornback \Thorn"back`\, n.
(Zo["o]l.) A European skate ( Raia clavata) having thornlike spines on its back.
(Zo["o]l.) The large European spider crab or king crab ( Maia squinado).
Wiktionary
n. 1 Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as: 2 # The (vern: thornback guitarfish) ((taxlink Platyrhinoidis triseriata species noshow=1)), a species of ray in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean. 3 # The (vern: thornback ray) or (vern: thornback skate) ((taxlink Raja clavata species noshow=1)), a species of ray in the Atlantic Ocean. 4 # The (vern: thornback skate) ((taxlink Dentiraja lemprieri species noshow=1)), a fish endemic to Australia.
Wikipedia
Thornback may refer to:
Usage examples of "thornback".
And now all the western seaboard of Demonland lay clear to view, stretching fifty miles and more from Northhouse Skerries past the Drakeholms and the low downs of Kestawick and Byland, beyond which tower the mountains of the Scarf, past the jagged sky-line of the Thornbacks and the far Neverdale peaks overhanging the wooded shores of Onwardlithe and Lower Tivarandardale, to the extreme southern headland, filmy-pale in the distance, where the great range of Rimon Armon plunges its last wild bastion in the sea.
The sun was down behind the stately Thornbacks, and the whole sky from bourne to bourne was alight with the sunset glory.