8 uses
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Definition
bony segments of the spinal column
- It is a German conceit, that the vertebrae are absolutely undeveloped skulls.Chapters 79-81 — The Prairie; The Nut; The Pequod Meets the Virgin (24% in)
- If you attentively regard almost any quadruped's spine, you will be struck with the resemblance of its vertebrae to a strung necklace of dwarfed skulls, all bearing rudimental resemblance to the skull proper.Chapters 79-81 — The Prairie; The Nut; The Pequod Meets the Virgin (23% in)
- A foreign friend once pointed it out to me, in the skeleton of a foe he had slain, and with the vertebrae of which he was inlaying, in a sort of basso-relievo, the beaked prow of his canoe.Chapters 79-81 — The Prairie; The Nut; The Pequod Meets the Virgin (24% in)
- As it passes through the remaining vertebrae the canal tapers in size, but for a considerable distance remains of large capacity.Chapters 79-81 — The Prairie; The Nut; The Pequod Meets the Virgin (27% in)
- This august hump, if I mistake not, rises over one of the larger vertebrae, and is, therefore, in some sort, the outer convex mould of it.Chapters 79-81 — The Prairie; The Nut; The Pequod Meets the Virgin (29% in)
- The ribs were hung with trophies; the vertebrae were carved with Arsacidean annals, in strange hieroglyphics; in the skull, the priests kept up an unextinguished aromatic flame, so that the mystic head again sent forth its vapoury spout; while, suspended from a bough, the terrific lower jaw vibrated over all the devotees, like the hair-hung sword that so affrighted Damocles.Chapters 100-102 — The Pequod meets....; The Decanter; A Bower in the Arsacides (83% in)
- There are forty and odd vertebrae in all, which in the skeleton are not locked together.Chapters 103-105 — Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton; The Fossil Whale; Does the Whale Diminish (20% in)
- When I stand among these mighty Leviathan skeletons, skulls, tusks, jaws, ribs, and vertebrae, all characterized by partial resemblances to the existing breeds of sea-monsters; but at the same time bearing on the other hand similar affinities to the annihilated antichronical Leviathans, their incalculable seniors; I am, by a flood, borne back to that wondrous period, ere time itself can be said to have begun; for time began with man.Chapters 103-105 — Measurement of The Whale's Skeleton; The Fossil Whale; Does the Whale Diminish (46% in)
There are no more uses of "vertebrae" in Moby Dick.
Typical Usage
(best examples)