Crossword clues for vertebrae
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vertebra \Ver"te*bra\, n.; pl. Vertebr[ae]. [L. vertebra, fr. vertere to turn, change. See Verse.]
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(Anat.) One of the serial segments of the spinal column.
Note: In many fishes the vertebr[ae] are simple cartilaginous disks or short cylinders, but in the higher vertebrates they are composed of many parts, and the vertebr[ae] in different portions of the same column vary very greatly. A well-developed vertebra usually consists of a more or less cylindrical and solid body, or centrum, which is surmounted dorsally by an arch, leaving an opening which forms a part of the canal containing the spinal cord. From this dorsal, or neural, arch spring various processes, or apophyses, which have received special names: a dorsal, or neural, spine, spinous process, or neurapophysis, on the middle of the arch; two anterior and two posterior articular processes, or zygapophyses; and one or two transverse processes on each side. In those vertebr[ae] which bear well-developed ribs, a tubercle near the end of the rib articulates at a tubercular facet on the transverse process (diapophysis), while the end, or head, of the rib articulates at a more ventral capitular facet which is sometimes developed into a second, or ventral, transverse process (parapophysis). In vertebrates with well-developed hind limbs, the spinal column is divided into five regions in each of which the vertebr[ae] are specially designated: those vertebr[ae] in front of, or anterior to, the first vertebra which bears ribs connected with the sternum are cervical; all those which bear ribs and are back of the cervicals are dorsal; the one or more directly supporting the pelvis are sacral and form the sacrum; those between the sacral and dorsal are lumbar; and all those back of the sacral are caudal, or coccygeal. In man there are seven cervical vertebr[ae], twelve dorsal, five lumbar, five sacral, and usually four, but sometimes five and rarely three, coccygeal.
(Zo["o]l.) One of the central ossicles in each joint of the arms of an ophiuran.
Wiktionary
n. (context obsolete English) (en-irregular plural of: vertebra)
WordNet
n. one of the bony segments of the spinal column
[also: vertebrae (pl)]
See vertebra
Wikipedia
Vertebrae is the tenth studio album release by Norwegian metal band Enslaved. It was released on 29 September 2008 via Indie Recordings in Europe and on 28 October 2008 via Nuclear Blast in the US, Enslaved's first album on both labels. It was named as Album of the Year by Terrorizer. The album sold approximately 1,100 copies in its first week in the United States, reaching number 49 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.
Usage examples of "vertebrae".
Finally, at the bottom of the spine are four buttonlike remnants of vertebrae that once formed part of a tail (when the animals ancestral to man had tails).
The first seven vertebrae are the cervical vertebrae of the neck region.
Beneath the cervical vertebrae are twelve thoracic vertebrae of the chest region, and under each of these passes a pair of spinal nerves, so that there are twelve pairs of thoracic nerves.
These are the coccygeal vertebrae, and there is one final pair of coccygeal nerves.
They are outside the bony vertebrae, and not inside as is the gray matter of the spinal cord and the ganglia of the posterior root.
These structures are the vertebrae, and for this reason the subphylum is called Vertebrata (vur'tih-bray'tuh) and its members commonly referred to as the vertebrates.
The vertebrae of the spinal column are essentially a series of bony rings cemented together by cartilage, and through the center of those protecting rings runs the spinal cord.
The clearest evidence of segmentation in the adult human is the repeated vertebrae of the spinal cord (one to each segment) and the repeating line of ribs attached to twelve of them.
The nervous system also shows the existence of segmentation, and does so most clearly in the repeated and regular emergence of pairs of spinal nerves from between vertebrae all down the spinal column.
The first pair makes its way out between the skull and the first vertebra, the second pair between the first and second vertebrae, the third pair between the second and the third vertebrae, and so on.
And since there are five lumbar vertebrae in the region of the small of the back, there are five pairs of lumbar nerves.
If the spinal column and the spinal cord it contained were of the same length, then one would expect the segments of the cord to run even with the vertebrae, and each successive nerve would just run straight out, horizontally.
When anesthesia of the lower sections of the body is desired, the injection of anesthetic is made between the lumbar vertebrae, and never higher.
It's important to remember that the spine is not a solid column, but twenty-two separate vertebrae stacked on top of each other.
The lumbar, or lower back, vertebrae are actually so large as to extend almost halfway into the lower abdomen.