Word Finder - backbone

definition

The series of vertebrae, separated by disks, that encloses and protects the spinal cord, and runs down the middle of the back in vertebrate animals.

definition

Any fundamental support, structure, or infrastructure.

example

Before automobiles, railroads were a backbone of commerce.

definition

Courage, fortitude, or strength.

example

He would make a good manager, if he had a little more backbone.

He was the backbone for all of us.  I think we all feel his absence.

His fingers were gently massaging the muscles on either side of her backbone - warm and relaxing.

The Southern Alps, the backbone of the South Island, rest on a foundation of coarse gneisses and schists, that are quite unrepresented in the North Island.

In the tectonic structure of Asia the Kuen-lun forms, as it were, the backbone of the continent.

They form the backbone of the island, and crop out on the surface at intervals along the mountain chain which runs parallel to the west coast.

The Code forms the backbone of the skeleton sketch which is here reconstructed.

The upper town is built on the western slope of a low ridge, the backbone of the peninsula, and rises from the edge of the bluffs to altitudes of 200 to 260 ft.

The backbone or main water-divide of the Hindu Kush continues to form the boundary between Afghanistan and those semi-independent native states which fringe Kashmir in this mountain region, until it reaches Kafiristan.

In the War of Independence the Aetolians by their stubborn defence, culminating in the sieges of Missolonghi, formed the backbone of the rebellion.

The ordinal name for the genera and species of Amphioxus is Cephalochorda, the term referring to the extension of the primary backbone or notochord to the anterior extremity of the body; the family name is Branchiostomidae.

In both ranges, too, some of the highest summits stand on spurs of the main range, not on the main range itself; as Mont Perdu and Maladetta lie south of the main backbone of the Pyrenees, so Mount Elbruz and Kasbek, Dykh-tau, Koshtan-tau, Janga-tau and Shkara - all amongst the loftiest peaks of the Caucasus - stand on a subsidiary range north of the principal range or on spurs connecting the two.

Had the Austrians attacked on both flanks forthwith, the Prussian central (I.) army could have reached neither wing in time to avert defeat, and the political consequences of the Austrian victory might have been held to justify the risks involved, for even if unsuccessful the Austrians and Saxons could always retreat into Bavaria and there form a backbone of solid troops for the 95,000 South Germans.

Archilochus described Thasos as "an ass's backbone crowned with wild wood," and the description still suits the mountainous island with its forests of fir.

The two rivers run nearly parallel, inclosing the backbone of the Ghilzai plateau.

The geology of Borneo is very imperfectly known The mountain range which lies between Sarawak and the Dutch possessions, and may be looked upon as the backbone of the island, consists chiefly of crystalline schists, together with slates, sandstones and limestones.

For, as in the legend of Sigurd the Volsung, the plot had turned upon the love and vengeance of Brunhild, so in the song of the Nibelungs it is the love and vengeance of Kriemhild, the Gudrun of the northern saga, that forms the backbone of the story and gives it from first to last an artistic unity which the V olsungasaga lacks.

He suspected it was because the same mettle lining Dusty's backbone lined hers.

A range of granite mountains forms a backbone which divides the peninsula into two unequal portions, the larger of which lies to the east and the smaller to the west of the chain.

Upolu is long and narrow; it has a backbone of mountains whose flanks are scored with lovely valleys, at the foot of which are flat cultivable tracts.

Next come the Presbyterians, the backbone of the maritime provinces.

The backbone of the Scandinavian peninsula is a range, or series of masses, of mountains (in Swedish Kolen, 1 the keel) extending through nearly the whole length of the peninsula towards the western side.

This is the very backbone of the Breviary, the groundwork of the Catholic prayer-book; out of it have grown the antiphons, responsories and versicles.

Their descendants, the Atherstones, Bowkers, Barbers, Woods, Whites, Turveys, and a number of other well-known frontier families, are to-day the backbone of the eastern district of the Cape, and furnish the largest portion of the progressive element in that province.

Long before England was ripe to welcome deistic thought Lord Herbert of Cherbury earned the name "Father of Deism" by laying down the main line of that religious philosophy which in various forms continued ever after to be the backbone of deistic systems. He based his theology on a comprehensive, if insufficient, survey of the nature, foundation, limits and tests of human knowledge.

India-rubber springs were made to extend between the inner posterior parts of the wings and the frame, corresponding to the backbone of the bird.

The backbone was a light but very rigid tube of aluminium steel, 15 ft.

The axis, or backbone, of Pamir formation is the great meridional mountain chain of Sarikol - the ancient Taurus of tradition and history - on which stands the highest peak north of the Himalaya, the Murtagh Ata (25,000 ft.).

France was, as ever, the backbone of the Scots resistance; men and money poured into Edinburgh to assist Mary of Guise and the French faction.

It forms an irregular square, extending for about sixty miles in each direction, and this area, which is for the most part level, is enclosed by well-marked boundaries - by the Cambunian Mountains on the north, and by Othrys on the south, while on its western side runs the massive chain of Pindus, which is the backbone of this part of Greece, and towards the east Ossa and Pelion stand in a continuous line; at the north-eastern angle is Olympus, the keystone of the whole mountain system.

The execution of its orders in the departments was carried out by omnipotent representatives on mission in the armies, by popular societiesveritable missionaries of the Revolutionand by the revolutionary committees which were its backbone.

Among domestic statesmen he was felt, however, to be the backbone of the party in power.

Her pain was raw, yet there was mettle in her backbone if she'd gone to Sean's funeral, fully knowing her own father killed the Guardian.

The b -sheet adjacent to the nucleotide-binding site is colored magenta; light chains are displayed as b -sheet adjacent to the nucleotide-binding site is colored magenta; light chains are displayed as backbone, in green & red.

These were people who had for decades formed the backbone of the SPD in the trade union movement.

First years often constitute the backbone of the MCR committee.

To enable individual data networks to utilize best the new high-speed backbone through the application of switching technology.

This means that layers of ATM and SDH systems sit between devices and the optical backbone.

Among the national newspapers in the UK today only the Star and the Sport don't have a solid backbone of serious news.

The enzyme DNA polymerase joins the new nucleotides to each other by strong covalent bonds, forming the sugar-phosphate backbone.

The most significant chromophore for proteins is the amide group of the polypeptide backbone.

That the phosphate backbone was on the outside, bases on the inside.

The geometry of the polypeptide hydrogen bonds involving the peptide backbone atoms were also analyzed and shown to be fairly independent of sidechain influences.

Whatever the working environment we can deliver structured cabling (Cat5e & Cat6 copper ), fiber optic backbone cabling.

If the input model has an alpha carbon at the origin a rough backbone trace of map regions matching the fragment may be obtained.

Note how, within the plane of the sheet, backbone carbonyl oxygen atoms point toward backbone amino N atoms of the adjacent strand.

The small hydrogen side chain of the glycine amino acids permits the backbone torsion angles to adopt unusual conformations.

The first stage was the popular uprising under Wallace and Andrew Moray, whose backbone was an armed peasantry led by minor gentry.

The backbone of the country is the Andean highlands, made up of two mountainous chains and over 30 volcanoes.

The largely hydrophobic R-groups of a membrane-spanning a -helix contact the hydrophobic membrane core, while the more polar peptide backbone is buried.

Iraq's Sunni minority was dominant under Saddam and is believed to make up the backbone of the country's insurgency.