- 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"
--1 is a kind of skeletal structure
--1 is a part of axial skeleton
--1 has parts:
--1 has particulars: notochord; chinespinal canal, vertebral canal, canalis vertebralis; coccyx, tail bone; vertebra; intervertebral disc, intervertebral disk