Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having a spine or spines.
- adjective Terminating in a spine.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In botany, tending to be hard and thorn-like; terminating in a spine or sharp point; armed with spines or thorns; spinose.
- In zoology, somewhat spinous or spiny, as the fur of an animal; very coarse, harsh, or stiff, as hair; spinulous.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Bot.) Becoming hard and thorny; tapering gradually to a rigid, leafless point; armed with spines.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having a spine or spines.
- adjective Terminating in a spine.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The thickets of the Fish, Sundays, and Gamtoos river valleys are sparse, succulent and spinescent.
Albany thickets 2008
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The Maputaland-Pondoland Bushland and Thicket is less spinescent and less succulent, comprised of more grasses, and dominated by subtropical woody evergreen species.
Albany thickets 2008
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These species-rich, dense thickets are composed of spinescent shrubs, woody creepers and succulents.
Albany thickets 2008
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It generally consists of a closed canopy formation up to 6 meters (m) in height and frequently forms an impenetrable tangle of spinescent shrubs, low trees and vines.
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Base of involucel turbinate, inner bristles longer, spreading and spinescent, ciliate at base 2.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses K. Rangachari
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The vegetation is generally gloomy and sad; it has the aspect of our evergreens or heaths; the plants are for the most part woody; the leaves of nearly all the plants are linear, lanceolated, small, coriaceous, and spinescent.
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation Robert Chambers 1836
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