spinous

1. (obsolete) Of a person: difficult to deal with, prickly.Examples: "He had the rough magnanimity of the old English vein, mellowed into tenderness and dashed with a flexible and spinous humor."; "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."; "For rough spinous humour few could beat Socrates. In Plato we have this humour toned down into a refined irony."obsolete

2. (rare) Of a subject: providing many difficulties, thorny.Examples: "The spinous problem shifted from the how to find minima efficiently to what method should be employed to provide a better connection between the topography and the dynamics on the surface."; "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."; "My screenplays address a variety of upbeat as well as spinous issues, including family dysfunction, physical abuse, and the unknown gauntlet of the wild. Casting Director, and Film Production Consultant."rare

3. (anatomy) Having a sharp projection.Examples: "the spinous processes of the lumbar vertebrae"; "The spinous process of vertebra CII can be identified through deep palpation as the most superior bony protuberance in the midline inferior to the skull."