Also 5 spyne, spin. [ad. OF. espine (mod.F. épine, = Prov. espina, Sp. espina, Pg. espinha, It. spina), or directly ad. L. spīna thorn, prickle, backbone, etc.]
I. 1. Bot. A stiff, sharp-pointed process produced or growing from the wood of a plant, consisting of a hardened or irregularly developed branch, petiole, stipule, or other part; a thorn; a similar process developed on fruits or leaves.
Botanically distinguished from a PRICKLE (q.v.), and sometimes also from a thorn, the latter being then restricted to processes originating from the epidermis only.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, II. xxxi. (1554), 67. Serue the Lorde … Which for thy sake was crouned with a spine, His heart eke perced to saue thee fro ruine.
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven (1617), 36. The crab-stock spines, which grow out of the root of the very best apple tree.
1612. Two Noble K., I. i. Roses, their sharpe spines being gon.
1656. in Blount.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 449. The spine, to which the pea adheres by a thread, is preserved entire.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 63. The tendrils, the spines, and other similar parts of plants.
1839. Darwin, Voy. Nat., ., xiv. 318. [A cactus] which, including the spines, was six feet and four inches in circumference.
1860. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., V. VI. viii. § 14. 75, note. A branch of blackthorn with its spines.
1867. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., vii. (1870), 145. In the holly … the leaves which grow nearest the ground are thickly furnished with spines.
b. transf. = NEEDLE sb. 11.
1859. Boyd, Recreat. Country Parson, ii. 28. There was not a breath of air through the spines of the firs.
1869. Chambers’s Jrnl., Sept., 623/2. A few years ago, no one imagined that the spines (foliage) of pine-trees could be converted into wool.
† 2. The sting of a bee. Obs.–0
1656. in Blount, Glossogr.
3. Anat. One or other of several sharp-pointed slender processes of various bones.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v. Pectinis Os, The upper Part of this Bone is call’d its Spine.
1726. Monro, Anat., 107. Thro’ the Middle of the Two Arches a small sharp Ridge runs, which has the Name of Spine bestowed on it by some, as indeed Anatomists commonly do apply this Name to all the long narrow-edged Protuberances of Bones.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 212. A very troublesome sensation near the spine of the left ilium.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 99. At the middle part it is much diminished, and is limited by the two nasal spines.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 7. The spines of the dorsal vertebrae.
4. Zool. A stiff, pointed, thorn-like process or appendage developed on the integument of certain fishes, insects, or lower forms of animal life.
1721. Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 148. On the fore-part of its [an insect’s] Body, near the Head, are placed two Branches,… from which proceed several capillary Spines.
1748. J. Hill, Hist. Fossils, 652. The various species of bodies allow’d to have been spines of the Echini.
1815. Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., IX. I. 42. At the bend of the wing, just within, is a horn-coloured spine, about one-eighth of an inch long, and blunt at the end.
1835. J. Duncan, Beetles, 110. The tibiæ … are frequently beset with stiff bristles, and armed more or less with spines or spurs.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 190. [In star-fish] the edges of a groove are bordered immediately by a series of fine moveable spines.
b. One of the prickles of a hedgehog, the quills of a porcupine, or similar growth on other animals.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., Erinaceus,… the common hedgehog…. Its head, back, and sides, are covered with sharp spines.
1770. G. White, Selborne, xxvii. No doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), II. 104. In the one [species of porcupine], the spines are about an inch long; in the other, a foot.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 128. Crested Porcupine. With very long spines on the back.
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 113. Some [rats] have spines mingled with their fur, as the Cairo Mouse…, which has spines on the back in place of hairs.
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 298. Bristles, hedgehog, spines, and porcupine quills, are all modifications of hair.
c. Ichth. A spinous or spiny fin-ray; a fin-spine.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 189. These fins differ very much from those of other fishes, which are formed of straight spines.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 476. Banstickle or Stickleback. Three spines on the back.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, iii. (1880), 98. Master Perch … has sharp spines.
d. Conch., A sharp projection of a shell.
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 156. A subfusiform univalve;… the spine longish. Ibid., 203. Lip alæform; bent upwards on the spine.
5. a. Any natural formation having a slender sharp-pointed form.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 89. Its broad Head being put before the Light, the Spine appears within.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 490. The dendrons are possessed of numerous minute lateral projections, gemmules, spines, or ‘thorns,’ as they have been variously called.
b. Needlework. (See quot.)
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 458/1. Spines … are also called Pinworks, and are used to trim the raised Cordonnets that surround Spanish and Venetian Point Lace, and also other kinds of Point Lace. The Spines are long straight points that stick out from the edge of the Cordonnet.
II. 6. The spinal or vertebral column in man and vertebrates; the backbone. Also spine of the back; now dial.
(a) c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 358. Of curis of woundis of þe spine ouþir spondilium.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, XIII. xx. (1631), 974. Vnder the name of the Spine we comprehend all that which is extended from the first Racke bone of the Necke vnto the Coccyx or Rumpe.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. i. 180. So cannot other animals lye upon their backs; though the spine lye parallell with the Horizon, yet will their legs incline, and lye at angles unto it.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Isagoge v. Amongst Fishes … The Psettaceous, or plain and spinose, have a spine that seemeth to be divided in the midd’st.
1794. Cowper, Needless Alarm, 7. Many a neighb’ring squire … Contusion hazarding of neck or spine.
1827. N. Arnott, Physics, I. 223. The head rests on the elastic column of the spine.
1834. McMurtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 27. The spine, most commonly, is continued into a tail.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., i. (1878), 5. The horses stand stock-still in the meadows with their spines in a straight line.
(b) 1651. Sir W. Raleigh’s Ghost, 87. From the head, it … is extended through the spine of the back.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 272. Having suspended some frogs … by means of metallic hooks fixed in the spines of their backs.
1884–. in dial. glossaries and texts (Worcs., Glouc., Oxf., Berks., Herts., Cornw.).
b. transf. A part or formation having the function of a backbone.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 117. The leaf being … set into the Pedunculus,… receiveth from that not onely a Spine, as I may call it, which, passing through the leaf, divides it [etc.].
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., IX. 96. Yet what an age her shell-rock ribs attest! Her sparry spines, her coal-encumber’d breast!
1855. Tennyson, Maud, II. II. iv. The shock Of cataract seas that snap The three decker’s oaken spine.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 April, 2/1. The span is the great arch that supports the first floor. The spine is the iron upright which runs outside the [Eiffel] Tower from the second floor to the summit.
c. A line or mark along the back.
1791. W. H. Marshall, W. England (1796), II. 243. The Cattle … chiefly of a dark red color; a few of them with white Glocestershire spines.
7. The heart-wood or duramen of a tree.
1630–1. [implied in spine-lath: see 11].
1703. R. Neve, City & C. Purchaser, 261. If the Elm be fell’d between November and February, it will be all Spine, or Heart.
1825–63. [see spine-oak in 11].
1883. M. P. Bale, Saw-Mills, 336. Spine, is the name given to the mature wood of a tree, the outer layer being called alburnum or sapwood.
8. A ridge or elevated stretch of ground, rock, etc., having a position analogous to that of the backbone, or resembling it in some way.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 567. The spine, or highest ridge of the peninsula.
1852. Munday, Antipodes (1857), 4. These spines of land, or rather rock, subdivide the south shore of Port Jackson.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxi. 148. These blocks ride upon a spine of ice, and form a moraine.
1895. G. Meredith, Amazing Marriage, xxxiv. Mickleham, where the Surrey chalk runs its final turfy spine North-Eastward.
9. techn. A longitudinal ridge; a fin; a longitudinal slat of a riddle.
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech., 2269/2.
III. attrib. and Comb. 10. a. In sense 6, as spine-ache, -case, -chisel, -pad, etc.; spine-breaking, -broken adjs.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), III. 221. In no instance do I find the back-bone ache, or spine-ache, from which rhachialgia derives its name. Ibid., IV. 682. Baron Larrey speaks in terms of high commendation of the first, and especially in spine-cases, or paraplegia.
1823. Campbell, Sp. Patriots, iii. Smile o’er the gaspings of spine-broken men.
1882. Floyer, Unexpl. Balūchistan, 120. We bumped, stumbled, and jolted in a most horribly spine-breaking, bone-dislocating manner.
1895. Arnold & Sons’ Catal. Surg. Instrum., 93. Spine Chisel. Ibid., 96. Spine Saw. Ibid., 513. Spine Hook.
1900. Isabel Savory, Sportswoman in India, viii. 256. Not only [to] wear a large solá topi, but have a spine pad sewn inside the coat.
b. In senses 1 and 4, as spine-clad, -covered, -finned, -headed, -like, -pointed, -tailed adjs.; spine-cushion.
1846. Patterson, Zool., 43. In the harder, or *spine-clad species [or Echinodermata].
1849. Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia, IV. 115. The Common Porcupine…. This *spine-covered animal is found in Italy [etc.].
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 310. The leaf-bundles run … almost horizontally upwards towards the lower margin of the *spine-cushion.
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., V. 335. The *spine-finned fishes … are distinguished … by some of the anterior rays of the dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins usually taking the form of strong, unjointed, bony spines. Ibid., 547. The extinct Spine-finned Sharks,—order Acanthodii.
1804. Shaw, Gen. Zool., V. II. 396. *Spine-headed Sucker, Cyclopterus Bispinosus.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 301. All the species of the Snake family … have minute vestiges of hind limbs, scale-like or *spine-like.
1882. Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 457. The four cells are attached to each other by means of rigid spine-like projections.
1829. T. Castle, Introd. Bot., 63. The apex of a leaf may … be … *spine-pointed or cuspidate.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1062/2. A Peruvian shrub, with elliptic spine-pointed leaves.
1802. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. I. 216. *Spine-tailed Lizard, Lacerta Acanthura.
1860. G. Bennett, Gatherings Naturalist Austral., 180. That remarkable little bird, the … Spine-tailed Orthonyx.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 183. Chæturinæ. Spine-tailed Swifts.
11. Special Combs.: spine-bill, one or other of two species of Australian honey-eaters, characterized by their long spine-like bills; spine-bone, the spine; also transf.; spine-eel, a spiny eel; spine-fish, a fish having sharp spines; † spine-lath, a heart-lath; spine-machine, a device for supporting or strengthening the human spine; spine-oak, the heart-wood of an oak (cf. 7). See also SPINE-TAIL.
1848. Gould, Birds Australia, IV. Pl. 61. Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris. Slender-billed *Spine-bill. Ibid., Pl. 62. A. superciliosus. White-eyebrowed Spine-bill.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 148. Þei strecchen doun to þe eeris [v.r. ers] in lenkþe biside þe *spin boon [v.r. spyne bon].
1621. Lodge, Summary of Du Bartas, I. 273. The marrow of the Spine-bone.
a. 1892. Tennyson, In Mem. (1897), I. 20. I used to stand on this sand-built ridge,… and think that it was the spine-bone of the world.
1883. F. Day, Indian Fish, 30. Few are of much economic importance, if we except the common goby, *spine-eels (Mastacembelidæ).
1827. Hood, Hero & Leander, xxvi. Let no fierce sharks destroy him with their teeth, Nor *spine-fish wound him with their venom’d thorns.
1630–1. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 192. Three hundred of *spind lathes, 2s. 6d. Ibid. (1635–6), 204. ij hundred of spine lathes to mend ouer the North dore of the Ch.
1814. W. Hey, Pract. Obs. Surg. (ed. 3), Pref. p. vii. Mr. E makes excellent *Spine-machines, upon the true principle of supporting the weak part from the ground.
1825. W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 31. The best of *spine oak is generally chosen for these pins.
1863. J. R. Wise, New Forest, Gloss., Spine-oak, the heart of oak.
