All vertebrates are built along the basic chordate body plan: a stiff rod running through the length of the animal ( vertebral column or notochord ), with a hollow tube of nervous tissue ( the spinal cord ) above it and the gastrointestinal tract below.

The defining characteristic of a vertebrate is the vertebral column, in which the notochord ( a stiff rod of uniform composition ) found in all chordates has been replaced by a segmented series of stiffer elements ( vertebrae ) separated by mobile joints ( intervertebral discs, derived embryonically and evolutionarily from the notochord ).

Since the 1980s, with the advent of flexible, yet stiff graphite ferrules, travel rod technology has greatly advanced, and multi-piece travel rods that can be transported in a suitcase or backpack constitute a large share of the market.

A rod effective for trolling should have relatively fast action, as a very " whippy " slow action rod is extremely frustrating to troll with, and a fast action ( fairly stiff ) rod is generally much easier to work with when fishing by this method.

Larger chub, especially in floodwater conditions, need to be fished with more substantial tackle: a stiff to moderately stiff rod, a strong line, strong hooks and a large bait.

The ship and pod are subject to gravity and inertia, and being connected by a stiff rod can end up spinning around each other, out of control.

They will hold a brush or knife stroke and even a medium stiff peak.

One reason for such a threat is that, unlike the typical sword and sorcery adventurer, the hero is seldom bored stiff by ordinary life and therefore will not abandon it quickly and on any excuse.

Reducing or reefing the total sail area will have the same effect and many boats will sail faster with less sail in a stiff breeze due to the reduction in underwater drag.

Egg tempera is not a flexible paint and requires stiff boards ; painting on canvas will cause crackle and pieces of paint to fall off.

Look at those tracks, I'm gonna drive my motorcycle up those saggy glad bags, get your sh * t together, sucking a good stiff will do you good " Despite all this, as well as the fact that Tesco Vee had performed a song called " Morrissey Must Die " about the Smiths ' self-identified asexual frontman and referred to him as a " fag ," they later contributed a cover of the song " How Soon Is Now?

It will automatically tighten and become stiff if the bird starts to lose hold of the branch on which it is perching.

When pipe-turf cannot be got conveniently, a good wedge drain may answer well, when the subsoil is a strong, stiff clay ; but if the subsoil be only moderately so, a thorn train, with couples below, will do still better ; and if the subsoil is very sandy, except pipes can be had, it is in vain to attempt under-training the fiel d by any other method.

While calling like this, they will lift the front of their body, ruffle their plumage, all while keeping their neck stiff.

Second, the curve of a nib determines in part how stiff the nib will be.

Should a heart shaped hole be wider than normal it will imbue a flexibility to the nib, while round, small holes give made a nib stiff.

After four months, their ears will not curl any longer, and should be hard and stiff to the touch.

At the highest end, or in select rooms of the building there might well be three sheeting layers, and such stiff subflooring is necessary to prevent the cracking of large floor tiles of or more on a side, and the structure under such a floor will frequently also have extra ' bracing ' and ' blocking ' joist-to-joist intended spread the weight to have as little sagging on any joist as possible when there is a live load on the floor above.

Trinity stops to watch the developing gunfight, predicting to the Mexican that the toughs will be " stiff before they hit the ground.

Materials like paper ( including coated paper cones ) and various polymers will generally ring less than metal diaphragms, but can be heavier and not as stiff.

* The product will face stiff competition soon after introduction.

A frame which is too stiff for a particular skater may feel unstable on corners, and a frame that is not stiff enough will be slower.

* A self-limiting spontaneously occurring form of torticollis with one or more painful neck muscles is by far the most common (' stiff neck ') and will pass spontaneously in 1 – 4 weeks.

For instance, a stiff string under low tension ( such as those found in the bass notes of small upright pianos ) exhibits a high degree of inharmonicity, while a thinner string under higher tension ( such as a treble string in a piano ) or a more flexible string ( such as a gut or nylon string used on a guitar or harp ) will exhibit less inharmonicity.

Riders who try to pull their horses into a shortened gait ( riding " front-to-back "), rather than contain the energy coming from the hindquarters ( riding " back-to-front "), will produce a shortened stride, but the horse will continue to carry his weight on his front end, and will simply have stiff, unathletic movement.

If the plastic material is very stiff, it will require more injection pressure to fill the mold, thus more clamp tonnage to hold the mold closed.

These attempts were met with increasingly stiff resistance, until troops were called in so that representatives of the Crown could safely perform their duties.

Awkwardly and laboriously, in stiff, unemotional phrases, the soldiers continue to bridge the distance between themselves and those they love ; ;

We parted, stiff and dry ;

There is a contrast between the rigidity of death and the weakness of life: " When he is born, man is soft and weak ; in death he becomes stiff and hard.

In areas of deeper bedrock with soft overlying soils, deep foundations are used to support structures directly on the bedrock ; in areas where bedrock is not economically available, stiff " bearing layers " are used to support deep foundations instead.

Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerald of Wales, speaking of the bows used by the Welsh men of Gwent, says: " They are made neither of horn, ash nor yew, but of elm ; ugly unfinished-looking weapons, but astonishingly stiff, large and strong, and equally capable of use for long or short shooting.

Criminal penalties can be stiff ; one of the basic functions of the system is to uphold the power of the regime.

Most structural proteins are fibrous proteins ; for example, actin and tubulin are globular and soluble as monomers, but polymerize to form long, stiff fibers that make up the cytoskeleton, which allows the cell to maintain its shape and size.

After his return to Vienna, his father was concerned about Rudolf's aloof and stiff manner, typical of the more conservative Spanish court, rather than the more relaxed and open Austrian court ; but his Spanish mother saw in him courtliness and refinement.

; Wood laminates: The perfect wood for a ski is light, flexible in length and stiff in cross-section.

Most yeasted pre-ferments fall into one of three categories: " poolish " or " pouliche ", a loose-textured mixture composed of roughly equal amounts of flour and water ( by weight ); " biga ", a stiff mixture with a higher proportion of flour ; and " pâte fermentée ", which is simply a portion of dough reserved from a previous batch.

Dewey's handicap was that many Republicans disliked him ; he often struck observers as cold, stiff and calculating.

The surface is wiped clean with a piece of stiff fabric known as tarlatan and then wiped with newsprint paper ; some printmakers prefer to use the blade part of their hand or palm at the base of their thumb.

A location in the west of the archipelago was thus sought ; the Straits of Malacca were strategic, but had become dangerous following the Portuguese conquest and the first permanent VOC settlement in Banten was controlled by a powerful local ruler and subject to stiff competition from Chinese and English traders.

Although frequently referred to as the hop " vine ", it is technically a bine ; unlike vines, which use tendrils, suckers, and other appendages for attaching themselves, bines have stout stems with stiff hairs to aid in climbing.

If good stiff clay, a single row of pipe-turf ; if sandy, a double row.

Babies born with severe CP often have an irregular posture ; their bodies may be either very floppy or very stiff.

The cartridges are made of a bundle of cordite, or other smokeless powder, tightly tied with silk, placed in a silk cloth bag with the primer or igniter stitched on the unclosed end ; the exterior is taped with silk cloth tape so as to form a stiff cartridge.

: As stiff twin compasses are two ;

Although Strauss was the most sought-after composer of dance music in the latter half of the 19th century, stiff competition was present in the form of Karl Michael Ziehrer and Émile Waldteufel ; the latter held a commanding position in Paris.

Stria vascularis is a rich bed of capillaries and secretory cells ; Reissner's membrane is a thin membrane that just separates endolymph from perilymph ; and the basilar membrane is a mechanically somewhat stiff membrane, supporting the receptor organ for hearing, the organ of Corti, and determines the mechanical wave propagration properties of the cochlear system.