Spinalize
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To surgically separate the spinal cord of (an animal) from the brain. transitive
"Such procedures may involve surgically separating the spinal cord from the brain. In this case, the animal is called spinalized or a spinal preparation. If we assume that every volitional act comes from the brain, then in a spinalized animal all muscle reactions to external stimuli are apparently reflexes, because signals from the brain cannot reach the spinal cord."
Example
More examples"Such procedures may involve surgically separating the spinal cord from the brain. In this case, the animal is called spinalized or a spinal preparation. If we assume that every volitional act comes from the brain, then in a spinalized animal all muscle reactions to external stimuli are apparently reflexes, because signals from the brain cannot reach the spinal cord."
Etymology
From spinal + -ize.
Related phrases
More for "spinalize"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.