Definition of "spinous" [spi•nous]

• Resembling a spine or thorn. (adjective)
• Having spines or similar projections; spiny. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If I had so sweet a place, I would plant brambles, briers, blackthorn, furze, crataegus, every kind of spinous growth, inside my gates, and never let anybody lop them."
• "When the basal cells reach the spinous layer, they are referred to as squamous cells."
• "Next is the spinous or squamous cell layer, the thick middle tier of the epidermis."