backbone

«backbone» in Mova's school dictionary: the line of bones down the middle of your back, also… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a backbone, backbones)

meaning for a pupil

1) The backbone is the line of bones down the middle of your back, also called the spine. tree →

2) The backbone of something is its most important part, which holds the rest up. tree →

3) Having backbone means being brave and strong enough to do the right thing. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, animals with a backbone are vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals); animals without one are invertebrates (insects, worms, jellyfish). In health: good posture protects your backbone. Phrases: the backbone of the team, have the backbone to, show some backbone.

examples

• Your backbone is made of small bones called vertebrae. tree →
• A fish has a backbone, but a worm does not. tree →
• Sit up straight to look after your backbone. tree →
• Farmers are the backbone of the country. tree →
• It takes backbone to stand up to a bully. tree →
• The goalkeeper is the backbone of our team. tree →
• Insects are animals without a backbone. tree →
• Feel the bumps of your backbone down your back. tree →

note

Countable. Same as spine. Science trap: a jellyfish and a spider have no backbone; a snake has a very long one. «Spineless» means without a backbone, or, about people, not brave.

In the corpora

• Herons, mudskippers and other animals with backbones each have just one heart.
• A tortoise's shell is part of its skeleton, joined to its ribs and backbone, so it can never leave it.
• Imagine one piece of a snake's backbone bigger than your fist.
• Insects and spiders have no backbone; they have a hard outer skeleton.
• Starfish and jellyfish are not fish, because they have no backbone.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «backbone» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.