vertebra, gen. and pi. ver'iebrcs

(vur'te-brah) [L.] One of the segments of the spinal column in man there are thirty-three vertebrae, 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, j lumbar, 5 sacral (fused into one bone, the sacrum), and 4 coccygeal (fused into one bone, the coccy^x). bas'ilar v., the lowest lum.bar vertebra, cra'nial v., a. segment of the sliuU regarded as homologous with a spinal vertebra. false v., any one of the fused vertebral segments of the sacrum or coccyx, odon'toid v., epistrophe us [BNA]. tricus'pid v., the sixth cervical vertebra in quadrupeds, typ'ical v., see Owen. V. dent a'ta, the second cervical vertebra, axis, epistrophe us [BNA]. v. mag'na, sacrum, v. prom'inens [BNA], the seventh cervical vertebra. ver'tebrae spu'iis, false vertebrae, the fused vertebral segments of the sacrum and cocoyx, ver'tebrae ve'rae, true vertebrae, the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae.