verb (used with object), mortified, mortifying. 1. to humiliate or shame, as by injury to one's pride or self-respect. 2. to subjugate (the body, passions, etc.) by abstinence, ascetic discipline, or self-inflicted suffering. 3. Pathology. to affect with gangrene or necrosis. verb (used without object), mortified, mortifying.
spinal tap noun. plural spinal taps. spinal tap. noun. plural spinal taps. Learner's definition of SPINAL TAP. [count] medical. : a procedure in which a needle is inserted into the spinal cord in order to take out fluid or inject medicine.
A low-pressure headache occurs in up to a third of people who have had a spinal tap, usually hours to a day or two afterward. In a spinal tap (see How a Spinal Tap Is Done ), doctors insert a needle between two vertebrae in the lower back, and withdraw a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from the spinal canal.