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Glite Dictionary
💪 Main support 🌐 Main network 🦴 Spine 📚 Book's spine
backbone

backbone

17 5.0
The main network that links smaller networks and carries most data
  • noun
  • /ˈbækˌboʊn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : red troncal
  • In fact, finite element analysis, which is the backbone of engineering simulation systems, grew out of the aerospace industry.
  • backbone of the network
  • form the backbone
  • backbone topology

Examples

  • We're gonna build a new operating system on the backbone of NEXT.

    Jobs (2013)

  • Vinton Cerf developed the TCP/IP protocol, the Internet's backbone, and Tim Berners-Lee gets credit for hyperlinks.

    Blog text (19)

  • To access the cluster, you need a bank on the backbone of the network.

    Swordfish (2001)

  • Millions are used worldwide and have formed the backbone of network supply management for the past three decades.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The Water Act of 1989 is the backbone of current water supply regulation in the UK.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Day said that optical recognition technology is the backbone that has made automation of mail distribution possible.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The 230-kV system represents the backbone of the US electricity grid.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Curbside recycling, the backbone of U.S. residential recycling, continues to undergo evolutionary, not revolutionary, change.

    Academic text (1996)

  • A strong internet backbone ensures that all smaller networks can communicate efficiently.

  • The city is investing in a robust public transport backbone to connect different neighborhoods.

Idioms

backbone of
32 3.4

The main part that supports a system or group

to the backbone
  • Informal
7.1

Completely loyal and firm, not willing to change

How Central

backbone
  • Specialized
17 5.0
core
468 3.2

Surface Forms

backbone singular
backbones plural

Morphology

backbone = back + bone (transparent) = back + bone

The network sense is a direct metaphor from the anatomical backbone as the main supporting structure; learners can infer 'main support' from the compound.

Etymology

The word backbone is also used for a network's main line because that central connection is the 'main line' that supports and carries most of the data, just as the body's backbone supports and links the parts of the body.