English → French
backbone /BrE ˈbakbəʊn 
, AmE ˈbækˌboʊn /
noun
1 (spine) (of person, animal) colonne f; (of fish) grande arête f
2 (strong feature) ossature f
to be the backbone of [people, players] constituer l'ossature de [group, team]; [person, concept] être le pilier de [organization, project, ideology]
3 (courage) cran m
to have the backbone to do avoir le cran de faire
he has no backbone c'est une larve
4 Computing dorsale f