- anchor, mainstay, keystone, backbone, linchpin, lynchpin - a central cohesive source of support and stability; "faith is his anchor"; "the keystone of campaign reform was the ban on soft money"; "he is the linchpin of this firm"
--1 is a kind of support
- backbone, grit, guts, moxie, sand, gumption - fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try it"
--2 is a kind of fortitude
- spinal column, vertebral column, spine, backbone, back, rachis - the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord; "the fall broke his back"
--3 is a kind of skeletal structure
--3 is a part of axial skeleton
--3 has parts:
--3 has particulars: notochord; chinespinal canal, vertebral canal, canalis vertebralis; coccyx, tail bone; vertebra; intervertebral disc, intervertebral disk - backbone - the part of a network that connects other networks together; "the backbone is the part of a communication network that carries the heaviest traffic"
--4 is a kind of connection, connexion, connector, connecter, connective
--4 is a part of net, network, mesh, meshing, meshwork