VERTEBRA

[ver.te.bra] n, pl -brae or -bras [L, joint, vertebra, fr. vertere to turn] (1578): one of the bony or cartilaginous segments composing the spinal column, consisting in some lower vertebrates of several distinct elements which never become united, and in higher vertebrates having a short more or less cylindrical body whose ends articulate by pads of elastic or cartilaginous tissue with those of adjacent vertebrae and a bony arch that encloses the spinal cord