Definition of "spinous"
spinous
adjective
comparative more spinous, superlative most spinous
Quotations
The cetaceous tribes have their bones entirely resembling those of quadrupeds, thick, white, and filled with marrow : those of the spinous kind, on the contrary, have small slender bones, with points resembling thorns, and generally solid throughout.
1824, Oliver Goldsmith, A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature - Volume 3, page 32
Quotations
It is however to be remarked, that these hairs are not of a spinous nature, as in the Mus fasciculatus and the Mus macrourus; they may properly be compared to bristles, having more consistence and rigidity than those of the Mus decumanus and giganteus; and in a natural arrangement, our animal stands between these species, and between those from which the character of the section is derived by M. Desmarest, and which, in a more rigorous sense, may be called spinous Rats.
1824, Thomas Horsfield, Zoological Researches in Java, and the Neighbouring Islands
And yet — you are not to confuse the thistle with the cedar that is in Lebanon ; nor to forget — if the spinous nature of it become too cruel to provoke and offend — the parable of Joash to Amaziah, and its fulfilment : " There passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle."
1886, John Ruskin, Proserpina: Studies of Wayside Flowers
(obsolete) Of a person: difficult to deal with, prickly.
Quotations
They were coevals, and had nothing but that and their benchership in common. In politics Salt was a whig, and Coventry a stanch tory. Many a sarcastic growl did the latter cast out — for Coventry had a rough spinous humour — at the political confederates of his associate, which rebounded from the gentle bosom of the latter like cannon balls from wool. You could not ruffle Samual Salt.
1838, Charles Lamb, Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, The Works of Charles Lamb, page 102
(rare) Of a subject: providing many difficulties, thorny.
Quotations
In this paper we have dealt with a very spinous issue such as the relation between the contingent and transcendent of human life and its meaning for politics.
2006, Giuseppe Ballacci, “Rethinking Political Community From Neglected Places”, in European Consortium for Political Research, Joint Sessions, Nicosia Cyprus 15-30 April 2006
The convergence problem probably represents the most spinous issue of cosmography.
2014, Alejandro Aviles, Alessandro Bravetti, Salvatore Capozzziello, Orlando Luongo, “Precision cosmology with Padé rational approximations: theoretical predictions versus observational limits”, in Physical Review D, volume 90