SPINE

noun Etymology: Middle English, thorn, spinal column, from Latin spina; perhaps akin to Latin spica ear of grain Date: 15th century 1. spinal column , something resembling a spinal column or constituting a central axis or chief support, the part of a book to which the pages are attached and on the cover of which usually appear the title and author's and publisher's names, a stiff pointed plant process, a sharp rigid process on an animal: as, spicule , a stiff unsegmented fin ray of a fish, a pointed prominence on a bone, ~d adjective ~like adjective