'Vertebrate' definitions:
Definition of 'vertebrate'
From: WordNet
adjective
Having a backbone or spinal column; "fishes and amphibians and reptiles and birds and mammals are verbetrate animals" [ant: invertebrate, spineless]
noun
Animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium [syn: vertebrate, craniate]
Definition of 'Vertebrate'
From: GCIDE
- Vertebrate \Ver"te*brate\, n. (Zool.) One of the Vertebrata. [1913 Webster] Vertebrate
Definition of 'Vertebrate'
From: GCIDE
- Vertebrate \Ver"te*brate\, Vertebrated \Ver"te*bra`ted\, a. [L. vertebratus.]
- 1. (Anat.) Having a backbone, or vertebral column, containing the spinal marrow, as man, quadrupeds, birds, amphibia, and fishes. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Bot.) Contracted at intervals, so as to resemble the spine in animals. --Henslow. [1913 Webster]
- 3. (Zool.) Having movable joints resembling vertebrae; -- said of the arms of ophiurans. [1913 Webster]
- 4. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the Vertebrata; -- used only in the form vertebrate. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'vertebrate'
From: Moby Thesaurus