a. and sb. [ad. med. or mod.L. vertebrālis (= F. vertébral, Sp., Pg. vertebral, It. vertebrale), or f. prec. + -AL.]
A. adj. 1. Of or pertaining to, situated on or near, the vertebræ; spinal.
1681. trans. Willis’ Rem. Med. Wks., Vocab., Vertebral, belonging to the joynts of the back-bone.
1704. Ray, Creation, II. (ed. 4), 319. The carotid, vertebral and splenick Arteries are … variously contorted.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1756), I. 83. The Carotidal and the Vertebral Arteries.
1771. Encycl. Brit., I. 218. Of the Vertebral Muscles.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 27. Vertebral Canal … extends along the whole length of the spine, following its various curvatures.
1840. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M. (1842), 342. The Vertebral vein descends by the side of the vertebral artery.
1854. Owen, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 197. The pleurapophyses or vertebral ribs in serpents.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 111/2. A sort of bony canal in which runs the vertebral artery.
transf. 1824. Galt, Rothelan, I. i. The acts of … the Black Prince constitute the vertebral portion of his history.
b. Ent. ‘Situated on or noting the median line of the upper surface’ (Cent. Dict., 1891).
2. Composed of vertebræ; spinal. Freq. in vertebral column.
1822. J. Flint, Lett. Amer., 234. The vertebral column was completely pliant, her body … bent in every direction successively.
1847–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., IV. I. 632/1. Every lesser unit of the vertebral chain.
1877. J. A. Allen, Amer. Bison, 449. The smaller size of the posterior part of the vertebral column in the American bison.
3. Of the nature of a vertebra.
1847–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., IV. I. 648. The vertebral pieces hold their own serial order, and thus we know them. Ibid., 670. These two iliac bones (c, c) are homologous … to the two vertebral laminæ of A.
b. Zool. (See quots.)
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., 563. [In] the Ophiuridea,… each of these [quadrate axial] ossicles (which are sometimes termed vertebral) is surrounded by four plates.
1877. F. Butler, in Encycl. Brit., VII. 633. The deep ambulacral grooves which occupy the middle of the lower face of each ray [in star-fishes] are formed each by a series of plates, the vertebral ossicles.
4. Of animals: Having a spinal column; = VERTEBRATE a. 1.
1816. J. Scott, Vis. Paris (ed. 5), 299. Cuvier, who was the first to divide animals into vertebral and invertebral.
1821–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), IV. 16. All the classes of vertebral animals possess the same number of senses as man.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xxi. (1860), 229/1. Under what peculiarities of form … vertebral life existed in the earlier ages of the world.
B. sb. 1. A vertebral artery or vein.
1718. J. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos. (1730), I. iii. § 3. We here see the Jugular Veins, and the Vertebrals.
1755. Dict. Arts & Sci., s.v. Medulla, The arteries and veins of the spinal marrow … are derived from the vertebrals of the neck, the intercostals, and the lumbar.
1880. Barwell, Areurism, 53. If we ligature the first part of the subclavian, ought we also to occlude the vertebral?
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 390. The arteries of the medulla oblongata … arise from the vertebrals.
2. A vertebrate animal. rare–0.
1828–32. Webster, Vertebral, n., an animal of the class which have a back-bone.
3. One of the unpaired dorsal plates in the carapace of a turtle.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 456. Dermal Scutes [of Testudo pardalis]:—co, costals; v, vertebrals; m, marginals.
Hence Vertebrally adv.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Segmented vertebrally; vertebrally articulated ribs.
1922. Wm. H. Dunn, in Minnesota Daily Star, 29 Dec., 11/6. Broad shoulders, perceptible biceps and uncommon strength vertebrally is no criterion.
