backbone : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: backbone	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for backbone
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
backbone n 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" Synonym(s): anchor, mainstay, keystone, backbone, linchpin, lynchpin fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try it" Synonym(s): backbone, grit, guts, moxie, sand, gumption the series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord; "the fall broke his back" Synonym(s): spinal column, vertebral column, spine, backbone, back, rachis the part of a book's cover that encloses the inner side of the book's pages and that faces outward when the book is shelved; "the title and author were printed on the spine of the book" Synonym(s): spine, 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"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Backbone \Back"bone"\, n. [2d back,n.+ bone. ] 1. The column of bones in the back which sustains and gives firmness to the frame; the spine; the vertebral or spinal column. 2. Anything like, or serving the purpose of, a backbone. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country. --Darwin. We have now come to the backbone of our subject. --Earle. 3. Firmness; moral principle; steadfastness. Shelley's thought never had any backbone. --Shairp. {To the backbone}, through and through; thoroughly; entirely. [bd]Staunch to the backbone.[b8] --Lord Lytton.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
backbone The top level in a hierarchical {network}. {Stub networks} and {transit networks} which connect to the same backbone are guaranteed to be interconnected. See also: {Internet backbone}. (1998-07-02)