backbone

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bakbon, also spelled bacbon,^[2][3][4] formed from Middle English bak (“back”) + bon (“bone”).^{[2][3][5][6][7]} Back is from Old English bæc, a word with no known relatives outside Germanic,^[6] and bone from bān.^[6] The Middle English Dictionary compares bakspine.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The spinal column: before 1300, in a vocabulary of W. de Biblesworth,^[5] where the MED's copy glosses the French “L'escine” as bac-bon.^[3] In Middle English it could also mean a single vertebra.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The transferred sense, a main support or axis, appears in 1684, in T. Burnet, and was used of the chief mountain range or watershed of a country,^[5][8] as of the Pennines as the backbone of England.^[2] The figurative sense "mainstay, the most important part" follows in 1849, in Cobden.^[5][8] The sense "firmness of character, resolve" is recorded from 1843, in a letter of Charlotte Brontë.^[5][6] In the 20th century chemists used the word for the chain of atoms forming the main axis of a molecule (1915), and engineers for the main links of a communications network (1924), later of a computer network.^[5] In North America it is also the spine of a book.^[7] The phrase to the backbone means thoroughly.^[5][7] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as the bone of the back, quoting Ray on its division into vertebrae.^[9] A verb, "to be the backbone of", is recorded from 1938.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1300 – the spinal column.^[5][3]
• 1684 – a main support or axis; the chief mountain range of a country.^[5]
• 1843 – firmness of character, resolve.^[5][6]
• 1849 – the main element, the mainstay.^[5]
• 1915 – in chemistry, the main chain of a molecule.^[5]
• 1924 – a main link of a communications network.^[5]
• 1938 – verb, to be the backbone of.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The spine or spinal column.^[10][2][5]
2. Something that resembles a backbone, such as the keel of a ship.^[10][2]
3. The chief mountain ridge or range of a country or region.^[10][2][5]
4. The main support or most important part of something; the mainstay: Small farms were the backbone of the local economy.^[10][5][7]
5. Strength of character; determination or resolve.^[10][5][7]
6. The main high-capacity links of a communications or computer network.^[5]
7. In chemistry, the chain of atoms forming the main axis of a molecule, especially a polymer.^[5]
8. (North America) The spine of a book.^[7]

Verb

1. To be the most important part of: Her goals backboned the team's best season.^[2]

Word family

• backboned
• backboneless

Related words

• back
• bone
• spine

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt