bone Hear it!

bone Definition

bone (bōn)

noun

  1. any of the separate parts of the hard connective tissue forming the skeleton of most full-grown vertebrate animals
  2. this tissue, composed essentially of living cells embedded in hard calcium compounds
  3. the skeleton
  4. the body, living or dead
  5. a bonelike substance or part, as whalebone
  6. a thing made of bone or of bonelike material; specif.,
    1. a corset stay
    2. Informal dice
    1. flat sticks used as clappers in minstrel shows
    2. ☆ an end man in a minstrel show
  8. bone white

Etymology: ME bon < OE ban, bone, esp. of a limb, akin to Ger bein, a leg; only Gmc

transitive verb boned, bon′·ing

  1. to remove the bones from
  2. to put whalebone or other stiffening into
  3. to fertilize with bone meal

intransitive verb

☆ to study hard and hurriedly, as in preparation for an examination; cram: usually with up

bone Idioms

feel in one's bones

☆

to have an intuition or presentiment

have a bone to pick

Informal to have something to quarrel or complain about

make no bones about

Informal
  1. to make no attempt to hide; admit freely
  2. to have no objection to or qualms about
bone Synonyms

bone

n.

skeletal substance, osseous matter, bony process, bone cartilage, ossein.

Bones of the human skeleton include: cranium or skull, frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, zygomatic or cheekbone, sphenoid, ethmoid, vomer or nasal bones, mandible or jawbone, maxilla, malleus or hammer, incus or anvil, stapes or stirrup, spinal column or vertebral column or vertebrae or backbone, atlas, axis, coccyx, ribcage, sternum or breastbone, clavicle or collarbone, scapula or shoulder blade, humerus, radius, ulna, carpal, metacarpal, phalanges, pelvis, ischium, pubis, ilium or hipbone, femur or thighbone, patella or kneecap, tibia or shinbone, fibula, talus, tarsal, metatarsal.

feel in one's bones

be convinced, feel intuitively, have a presentiment, have a hunch; see anticipate 1, see believe 1, feel 2.

have a bone to pick*

have a complaint, have a quarrel, be angry, express an objection; see complain 1, oppose 1.

make no bones about*

confess, reveal, expose; see admit 2.

bone Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • contention: The only bone of contention was Mahler's music, which Bridge found not to his taste.

Converse of object

  • cremate: Their cremated bones were placed in an urn under a large stone in the southern part of the cairn.

Adjective modifier

  • broken: Her grip, it's crushing, grinding the broken bones in his hands together.
  • bare: The following is the bare bones of the speech Lord Shore gave at the 1999 AGM.
  • brittle: Osteoporosis Osteoporosis -- or brittle bones -- is one of the major health concerns for older women.
  • burnt: One of the burial urns contained only the burnt ear bones of an infant - was this a strange sacrifice?
  • trabecular: Values can be obtained for whole bones or joints, or bone cortex or trabecular bone alone.
  • pelvic: Compression can also occur if the cord is between the baby's head and the mother's pelvic bone before or during delivery.

Modifies a noun

  • marrow: With my first taste of roast bone marrow with parsley salad was born my enduring love of meat, nose to tail.
  • density: There was no difference in bone density at the wrist within the twin pairs.
  • china: The shape was produced in Spode's white bone china.
  • transplant: Further, bone marrow transplants can be complicated by " Graft versus Host " disease.
  • mineral: The bone mineral density changes were compared with a control group of 15 untreated women.
  • transplantation: Bone marrow transplantation from an HLA identical sibling donor offers the only hope of long-term survival.

Noun used with modifier

  • thigh: Femur - the upper leg or thigh bone - the longest bone in the body.
  • shin: Tibia - the lower leg or shin bone - the second largest bone in the body.
  • collar: I've had Achilles trouble and complications from a broken collar bone in the past.
  • dinosaur: A three day science and technology extravaganza explored all aspects of science from rockets and robots, to DNA and dinosaur bones.
  • jaw: On the third day I started to notice tenderness around the rear left side of the jaw bone.
  • heel: With unaccustomed activity the tight achilles pulls the heel bone causing tension on the plantar fascia.
bone Quotes

Edward Hopper is the great painter of American hell in the 20th century, the limner-laureate of the beauty, poignance, eternityand bone-ache disquietude of life.

—Allen, Henry Southworth

I am proud that I am an Australian, a daughter of the Southern Cross, a child of the mighty bush. I am thankful I am a peasant, a part of the bone and muscle of my nation, and earn my bread by the sweat of my brow, as man was meant to do. I rejoice I was not born a parasite, one of the blood-suckers who loll on velvet and satin, crushed from the proceeds of human sweat and blood and souls.

—of Bin Bin

And the L God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LGod had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said,This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Thereforeshall a manleavehisfatherand hismother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Flesh of flesh, Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.

—Milton,John

Rompre l'os et sucer la substantifique moelle. Break the bone and suck out the very substance.

—Rabelais, Fran c° ois

Most games are skin-deep, but cricket goes to the bone.

—Aristotle

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

As for the grass, it grewas scant as hair in leprosyöthin dried blades pricked the mud which underneath looked kneaded up with blood. One stiff blind horse, his every bone a-stare, stood stupefied.

—Browning, Robert

Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.But put forththinehand now, and touchhisboneand his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

—Bible (Old Testament)