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Spina bifida to Spiræic
Spina bifida
(||Spi"na bif"i*da) (Med.) [L., cleft spine.] A congenital malformation in which the spinal
column is cleft at its lower portion, and the membranes of the spinal cord project as an elastic swelling
from the gap thus formed.
Spinaceous
(Spi*na"ceous) a. (Bot.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the plant spinach, or the family
of plants to which it belongs.
Spinach
(Spin"ach, Spin"age) n. [OF. espinache, espinoche, F. épinard; cf. F. spinace, Sp. espinaca; all
fr. Ar. isfanaj, isfinaj, aspanakh, probably of Persian origin.] (Bot.) A common pot herb (Spinacia
oleracea) belonging to the Goosefoot family.
Mountain spinach. See Garden orache, under Orache. — New Zealand spinach (Bot.), a coarse
herb a poor substitute for spinach.
Various other pot herbs are locally called spinach.
Spinal
(Spi"nal) a. [L. spinalis, fr. spina the spine: cf. F. spinal. See Spine.]
1. (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the backbone, or vertebral column; rachidian; vertebral.
2. Of or pertaining to a spine or spines.
Spinal accessory nerves, the eleventh pair of cranial nerves in the higher vertebrates. They originate
from the spinal cord and pass forward into the skull, from which they emerge in company with the pneumogastrics.
— Spinal column, the backbone, or connected series or vertebræ which forms the axis of the vertebrate
skeleton; the spine; rachis; vertebral column. — Spinal cord, the great nervous cord extending backward
from the brain along the dorsal side of the spinal column of a vertebrate animal, and usually terminating
in a threadlike appendage called the filum terminale; the spinal, or vertebral, marrow; the myelon. The
nervous tissue consists of nerve fibers and nerve cells, the latter being confined to the so-called gray
matter of the central portions of the cord, while the peripheral white matter is composed of nerve fibers
only. The center of the cord is traversed by a slender canal connecting with the ventricles of the brain.
Spinate
(Spi"nate) a. Bearing a spine; spiniform.
Spindle
(Spin"dle) n. [AS. spinal, fr. spinnan to spin; akin to D. spil, G. spille, spindel, OHG. spinnala.
&radic170. See Spin.]
1. The long, round, slender rod or pin in spinning wheels by which the thread is twisted, and on which,
when twisted, it is wound; also, the pin on which the bobbin is held in a spinning machine, or in the shuttle
of a loom.
2. A slender rod or pin on which anything turns; an axis; as, the spindle of a vane. Specifically: —
(a) (Mach.) The shaft, mandrel, or arbor, in a machine tool, as a lathe or drilling machine, etc., which
causes the work to revolve, or carries a tool or center, etc.
(b) (Mach.) The vertical rod on which the runner of a grinding mill turns.
(c) (Founding) A shaft or pipe on which a core of sand is formed.
3. The fusee of a watch.
4. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
5. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
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