bone

1 of 3

noun

ˈbōn 

often attributive

1

a

: one of the hard parts of the skeleton of a vertebrate

b

: any of various hard animal substances or structures (such as baleen or ivory) akin to or resembling bone

c

: the hard largely calcareous connective tissue of which the adult skeleton of most vertebrates is chiefly composed

2

a

: essence, core

cut costs to the bone

a liberal to the bone

b

: the most deeply ingrained part : heart

—usually used in plural

knew in his bones that it was wrong

3

bones plural

a(1)

: skeleton

(2)

: body

rested my weary bones

(3)

: corpse

inter a person's bones

b

: the basic design or framework (as of a play or novel)

4

: matter, subject

a bone of contention

5

a

bones plural : thin bars of bone, ivory, or wood held in pairs between the fingers and used to produce musical rhythms

b

: a strip of material (such as whalebone or steel) used to stiffen a garment (such as a corset)

c

bones plural : dice

6

: something that is designed to placate : sop

7

: a light beige

8

: inclination sense 4a

hadn't a political bone in his body

—John Hersey

9

slang : dollar

boned

ˈbōnd 

adjective

boneless

ˈbōn-ləs 

adjective

bone

2 of 3

verb

boned; boning

transitive verb

1

: to remove the bones from

bone a fish

2

: to provide (a garment) with stays

3

: to rub (something, such as a boot or a baseball bat) with something hard (such as a piece of bone) in order to smooth the surface

4

US, vulgar slang : to have sexual intercourse with (someone)

intransitive verb

: to study hard : grind

bone through medical school

bone

3 of 3

adverb

: extremely, very

bone tired

also : totally

Phrases

bone to pick

: a matter to argue or complain about

Synonyms

Noun

• affection
• affinity
• aptitude
• bent
• bias
• devices
• disposition
• genius
• habitude
• impulse
• inclination
• leaning
• partiality
• penchant
• predilection
• predisposition
• proclivity
• propensity
• tendency
• turn

Adverb

• achingly
• almighty
• archly
• awful
• awfully
• badly
• beastly
• blisteringly
• colossally
• corking
• cracking
• damn
• damned
• dang
• deadly
• desperately
• eminently
• enormously
• especially
• ever
• exceedingly
• exceeding
• extra
• extremely
• fabulously
• fantastically
• far
• fiercely
• filthy
• frightfully
• full
• greatly
• heavily
• highly
• hugely
• immensely
• incredibly
• intensely
• jolly
• majorly
• mightily
• mighty
• monstrous [chiefly dialect]
• mortally
• most
• much
• particularly
• passing
• rattling
• real
• really
• right
• roaring
• roaringly
• seriously
• severely
• so
• sore
• sorely
• spanking
• specially
• stinking
• such
• super
• supremely
• surpassingly
• terribly
• that
• thumping
• too
• unco
• uncommonly
• vastly
• very
• vitally
• way
• whacking
• wicked
• wildly

Examples of bone in a Sentence

Noun

He broke a bone in his left arm.

The leg bone is connected to the knee bone.

We are all made of flesh and bone.

The handle of the knife is made from bone.

Adverb

The air is bone dry.

grew up in a backwoods area that was bone poor

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The bones belonged to a mother, daughter and distant cousins who lived in what’s now eastern Germany about 45,000 years ago. —Ashley Strickland, CNN, 14 Dec. 2024

The girl was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and was diagnosed with a brain injury, a brain bleed, spinal compression and broken bones, authorities said. —Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2024

Verb

As to roasting, Don likes to bone out the chicken or spatchcock it by removing the backbone, before seasoning and rubbing with olive oil and roasting in the oven at 300 degrees for up to three hours. —Kim Sunée, Anchorage Daily News, 28 Oct. 2021

It’s the champion of the all-around: agile enough to make delicate work of veggies and sturdy enough to bone a chicken. —Amiel Stanek, Bon Appétit, 10 Nov. 2020

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English bon, going back to Old English bān, going back to Germanic *baina- (whence also Old Frisian & Old Saxon bēn "bone," Old High German bein "bone, leg," Old Norse bein "bone" and probably beinn "straight"), perhaps going back to Indo-European *b^hoi̯H-n-o-, a derivative of a verbal base *b^hei̯H- "strike, hew," whence, with varying suffixation, Old Irish benaid "(s/he) hews, cuts," robíth "(it) has been struck," Middle Breton benaff "(I) cut," Latin perfinēs (glossed by the Roman grammarian Festus as perfringās "you should break") and probably Old Church Slavic bijǫ, biti "to hit"

Note: Germanic lacks an outcome of Indo-European *h₂ost- "bone" (see osteo-), and it has been theorized that the etymon was replaced by *b^hoi̯H-n-o-, used attributively in the sense "broken off," first with Germanic *ast-a- "branch" and then, with homonymous *ast- "bone" (the expected outcome of *h₂ost-); the meaning "straight" seen in Old Norse beinn may have been an intermediary stage.

Verb

derivative of bone entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Adverb

circa 1825, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing bone

• (as) dry as a bone
• bone ash
• bone black
• bone-chilling
• bone china
• bone-dry
• bone marrow
• bone spur
• bone up
• bred-in-the-bone
• brittle bone disease
• cannon bone
• chilled me to the bone
• chilled to the bone/marrow
• close to the bone
• coffin bone
• crazy bone
• cut to the bone
• dog bone
• frontal bone
• funny bone
• hip bone
• hyoid bone
• innominate bone
• long bone
• occipital bone
• off the bone
• on the bone
• Paget's disease of bone
• pare to the bone
• parietal bone
• pedal bone
• skin and bone
• splint bone
• T-bone
• T-bone steak
• temporal bone
• thigh bone
• throw (someone) a bone
• to the bone
• work one's fingers to the bone
• zygomatic bone

Kids Definition

bone

1 of 2 noun

ˈbōn 

1

a

: a hard material which is largely calcium phosphate and of which the skeleton of most vertebrate animals is formed

also : one of the hard parts in which this material occurs

break a bone

b

: a hard animal substance (as baleen or ivory) similar to bone

2

: a cause of disagreement

—used in the phrases bone of contention and bone to pick

3

plural : something usually or originally made from bone (as dice or clappers)

4

a

: the basic part

cut costs to the bone

b

: the most deeply ingrained part

knew in her bones it was wrong

5

plural : body

rest my weary bones

boneless

-ləs 

adjective

bonelike

-ˌlīk

adjective

bone

2 of 2 verb

boned; boning

1

: to remove the bones from

bone a fish

2

: to study hard

bone up on math

Medical Definition

bone

noun

ˈbōn 

1

a

: one of the hard parts that make up the skeleton of a vertebrate and that varies in size and shape

a shoulder bone

the bones of the hand

—sometimes used before another noun

Osteoporosis is a major underlying cause of bone fractures in postmenopausal women and older persons in general.

—The Journal of the American Medical Association

b

: the hard largely calcareous (see calcareous sense 1) connective tissue of which bones are chiefly composed

cancellous bone

compact bone

—sometimes used before another noun

Age-related bone loss begins in men and women at about age 35 and is caused by a slight but persistent elevation in the rate of bone resorption over the rate of bone formation.

—Peter S. Millard et al., American Family Physician

compare cartilage sense 1

2

: any of various hard animal substances or structures (such as baleen or ivory) akin to or resembling bone

Natural materials like cuttlefish bone, sea urchin spines, and seashells have all been studied and investigated extensively …

—V. Lalzawmliana et al., Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering

Biographical Definition

Bone

biographical name

ˈbōn 

Sir Muirhead 1876–1953 Scottish etcher and painter