WORD OF THE DAY
backbone
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.
- Along the Dalmatian border, and through the centre of Bosnia, runs the backbone of the Dinaric Alps, which attain their greatest altitudes (6000-750o ft.) near Travnik, Serajevo and Mostar.
- the Albert Victor Mountains, the Sir Arthur Gordon range, and the Bismarck Mountains form a backbone united probably with the Sneeuw (Snowy) Mts., where perpetual snow was found by Dr. Lorentz in 1909 at 14,635 ft., and the height of Mt.
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.
In the tectonic structure of Asia the Kuen-lun forms, as it were, the backbone of the continent.
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.
While the prices in krans of agricultural produce, and hence the profits of the landowners and the wages and profits of artisans and tradesmen, were in1907-1908more than double what they were in 1876, the maliat, the backbone of the revenue, has hardly increased at all, being 50,000,000 krans (~1,ooo,ooo) against 43,200,000 krans (~1,6oo,ooo) in 1876, and showing a decrease of over 37% in sterling money.
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.
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.
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.