thornback

English

noun
Definitions
  • Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:
  • (archaic) A woman over a certain age (variously 26 or 30) who has never married, older than a spinster.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English thornbak compound from English thorn + English back (mild drink, back, chaser).

Origin

English

back

Gloss

mild drink, back, chaser

Concept
Semantic Field

The body

Ontological Category

Other

Kanji

後, 背

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms