Vertebrate \Ver"te*brate\, n. (Zool.)
   One of the Vertebrata.
   [1913 Webster] Vertebrate

	

	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]

	

	vertebrate
    adj 1: having a backbone or spinal column; "fishes and
           amphibians and reptiles and birds and mammals are
           verbetrate animals" [ant: invertebrate, spineless]
    n 1: 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]

	

	28 Moby Thesaurus words for "vertebrate":
   amphibian, aquatic, biped, canine, cannibal, carnivore, cetacean,
   chordate, cosmopolite, feline, gnawer, herbivore, insectivore,
   invertebrate, mammal, mammalian, marsupial, marsupialian, omnivore,
   primate, quadruped, reptile, rodent, ruminant, scavenger, ungulate,
   varmint, vermin