bone

Less common meanings

5. 5
   remove skeletonverbtransitive

   To prepare meat or fish by removing its bone or bones.

   Like pitting cherries: taking out the hard part to leave only the flesh.

   The chef will bone the leg of lamb before stuffing it.

   He boned three trout in under a minute.

   UsageDebone means the same; the participle often works as an adjective: a boned chicken.

   Similardebone

   Note

   The kitchen verb, and its past participle works as hard as the verb itself: a boned shad, a leg boned and rolled. Larousse Gastronomique uses it to draw a fine line: a ballottine is usually boned, stuffed and rolled, though strictly the name belongs only to meat boned and rolled without a stuffing. Fishmongers speak of boning a fish "through the back." Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Larousse Gastronomique describes a ballottine as boned, stuffed and rolled, while saying that strictly the term applies to meat boned and rolled without stuffing. en.wiktionary.org
   • Boning a fish "through the back" is established terminology for a fish preparation technique. fishfiles.com.au
6. 6
   concessionnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   A small reward or concession given to satisfy or placate someone.

   Like tossing a dog a scrap to quiet it: enough to satisfy, not enough to fill.

   Management tossed the union a bone to delay the strike.

   Critics called the small tax rebate a bone thrown to voters just before the election.

   UsageUsually in throw or toss someone a bone, suggesting a small, often condescending concession.

   Similarconcession, sop, sweetener

   Note

   The image is a dog's treat, and the sense lives almost entirely inside the idiom throw (someone) a bone. Pink Floyd's "Nobody Home" (1979) makes the picture explicit, with the singer casting himself as an obedient dog that is now and then rewarded with one.

7. 7
   cramverbintransitive

   To study, especially closely or intensively.

   Before her job interview, she spent a week boning up on the company's history and products.

   Anyone planning to drive abroad should bone up on the local traffic laws first.

   UsageMostly bone up on a subject, often in a hurry before a test.

   Similarstudy, cram, swot

   Note

   The bare form exists too. In Burt L. Standish's Frank Merriwell's Chums, a schoolboy protests, "What's the use of boning all the time!" Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Frank Merriwell's Chums is by Burt L. Standish. gutenberg.org
   • A schoolboy says the quoted words; the speaker is Bart Hodge, in conversation with Frank Merriwell. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   creamy whiteadjective

   Of an off-white color resembling the shade of bone.

   Like ivory or old parchment: white, but warmed with a faint touch of yellow.

   The designer chose bone linen for the dining chairs.

   Her dress was a warm bone shade that flattered her skin.

   Similarivory, cream, ecru, off-white

9. 9
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An off-white color resembling the typical shade of bone.

   Like the soft white of ivory rather than the glare of fresh snow.

   The palette ranged from bone to deep charcoal.

   Bone reads as more sophisticated than stark white in a bedroom.

   Similarivory, cream, ecru

   Note

   A paint-chart and fabric word that works in two grammatical slots. As a noun it names the shade itself, as in a palette running from bone to charcoal. As the adjective it describes what is dyed that shade, as in bone linen or a bone dress. Both are uncomparable in practice: something is bone or it isn't, and a deeper or paler version needs another word.

10. 10
    have sexverbslangvulgartransitive or intransitive

    To have sexual intercourse with someone; a vulgar slang verb.

    She made it clear she only wanted to bone, nothing serious.

    Rumor had it the two coworkers were boning after hours.

    Similarbang, bonk, hump, penetrate, copulate

    Note

    Vulgar slang, usually with a man as the subject, and it works both with and without an object. With an object it appears in a guest verse on Puff Daddy's "It's All About the Benjamins" (1997), aimed at a woman. Without one it appears in a 1993 LL Cool J line set on unlit city streets.

11. 11
    erectionnounslangvulgarcountable or uncountable

    A slang term for a man's erect penis.

    He turned away from her, embarrassed by the bone straining against his jeans.

    A cold shower finally took care of his bone.

    Similarerection, hard-on

    Note

    Crude slang for an erection, a shorter twin of boner and firmly out of place in polite or formal speech. It often sits after a preposition. In Viktor Vaughn's "Let Me Watch" (2003), a line puts it after on to describe arousal brought on by sound alone, a state rather than an object.

12. 12
    dollarnouncolloquialUScountable or uncountableplural

    A single US dollar.

    The cover charge is twenty bones at the door.

    I wouldn't pay forty bones for that cheap knockoff watch.

    UsageUsed with a number: twenty bones, a hundred bones.

    Similarbuck, dollar, clam

13. 13
    cannabis jointnounslangcountable or uncountable

    A hand-rolled cannabis cigarette; a joint.

    Someone lit a bone at the back of the party.

    She offered him a bone, but he was driving and declined.

    Similarjoint, spliff, doobie

    Note

    Sean Conway's Gillis Huckabee (2006) has a narrator who slips out between sets and "smoked a bone with her" by the dumpster. It is interchangeable with joint in casual speech, but it is less widely recognized. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Sean Conway wrote Gillis Huckabee. en.wiktionary.org
    • The first-person narrator goes outside between sets and says he 'smoked a bone with her' near a dumpster. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    brass instrumentnounslangabbreviationclipping

    Short for trombone: a brass instrument with a sliding tube, in casual use among musicians.

    The bone player slid into a low, growling note.

    He switched from trumpet to bone in his second year.

    Note

    Musicians' slang that keeps only the final syllable of trombone, the same trick as the football formation clipped from wishbone. In music it refers to the brass instrument. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Bone is a clipping of trombone retaining its final syllable. en.wiktionary.org
    • The football term bone is a shortened form of wishbone. en.wikipedia.org
15. 15
    rhythm piecenouncountable or uncountable

    One of a pair of small pieces of bone or wood held between the fingers and clacked together to beat time to music.

    Gripping one bone between his first and second fingers and another between his second and third, he clacked out a lively rhythm for the fiddler.

    The street musician rattled a pair of bones along with the fiddle.

    UsageUsually the bones, as in play the bones.

16. 16
    corset stripnouncountable or uncountable

    One of the rigid strips that form the frame of a corset, collectively called the boning.

    Like the ribs of an umbrella, holding the shape against pressure.

    One bone in the corset had bent badly out of shape.

    The dressmaker replaced the broken bones with thin steel strips.

    Similarstay

    Note

    The name outlived the material. These stiffening strips were originally cut from whalebone, and they kept the name bone whatever they were later made of. Taken together, the strips are the boning, an uncountable noun for the whole frame. Fitting them into a garment has its own verb, to bone a bodice, so a fully boned corset is one with closely spaced strips throughout. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Corset bones were originally made of whalebone. en.wiktionary.org
    • The name bone continued to apply to strips made from other materials. en.wikipedia.org
    • Fully boned describes the extent and density of the boning: closely spaced strips throughout the garment. Half-boned stays can also have all their intended strips installed. thedreamstress.com
17. 17
    domino tilenounslangcountable or uncountableplural

    A domino tile or a die, especially as used in games of chance.

    She set down a bone to match the open end of the line.

    He shook the bones and let them tumble across the felt.

    UsageFor dice, roll the bones means “roll the dice.”

    Similardomino, die

    Note

    Gaming slang, heard mostly in the plural: "roll them bones" is the gambler's call over a pair of dice. The same word serves for dominoes. Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness" (1899) has the Accountant bring out a box of dominoes and toy "architecturally with the bones." Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Joseph Conrad wrote the work originally titled The Heart of Darkness. en.wikisource.org
    • The work was first published in 1899. en.wikisource.org
    • The narrative describes the Accountant bringing out dominoes and toying architecturally with the bones; the quoted wording is exact. gutenberg.org
18. 18
    stiffenverbtransitive

    To fit a garment such as a corset or bodice with stiff strips, traditionally of whalebone and now usually of steel or plastic.

    The tailor boned the gown's bodice to keep it firm.

    Seamstresses bone these jackets along the seams for structure.

    Similarstiffen

19. 19
    stealverbdatedtransitive

    To steal something, or to catch and arrest a person.

    But troll's old seat is much the same, And the bone he boned from its owner

    1936, J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Root of the Boot”

    Therefore she wants to take results that belong to other people: she wants to bone everybody else's loaf.

    1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

    Similarnick, pinch, nab, steal, arrest

    Note

    A slang verb with a murky past: its origin is unknown, though probably connected to the skeleton word. Writers have kept it alive for a century. Dickens's Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby (1839) speaks of "what you had boned." Tolkien's "The Root of the Boot" (1936) uses it of a troll making off with a bone, and in Rebecca West's travel book her husband accuses someone of wanting "to bone everybody else's loaf."

20. 20
    curseverbdatedAustraliatransitive

    To perform bone pointing, a ritual intended to bring sickness or death upon its victim.

    “You don’t know!”, Bony echoed. “You can tell me who boned me fifteen years ago on the other side of the world, and you can’t tell me who killed the white-fella in the Crater”.

    1962, Arthur Upfield, The Will of the Tribe

    Similarcurse, hex

    Note

    A dated Australian usage tied to an Aboriginal ritual curse, and it takes the victim as its object. In Arthur Upfield's The Will of the Tribe (1962), a character asks who "boned me fifteen years ago on the other side of the world." Because it is dated and concerns a living cultural practice, it suits historical or literary discussion. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Arthur Upfield's The Will of the Tribe was first published in 1962. arthurupfield.com
    • The quoted words occur in the novel and are spoken by the character Bony. en.wiktionary.org
    • Bone pointing is an Aboriginal ritual curse that continues as a cultural practice. en.wikipedia.org
    • Bone pointing remains a living cultural practice. en.wikipedia.org
21. 21
    noun

    Any article made of bone, such as a bobbin used in weaving bone lace.
22. 22
    nouncolloquial

    An offensive formation in football in which a fullback and two halfbacks line up in a Y shape behind the quarterback, resembling a wishbone.
23. 23
    noun

    A bonefish, a silvery game fish found on warm, shallow coastal flats and prized by sport anglers.
24. 24
    verb

    To polish boots to a high, glossy shine.
25. 25
    verb

    To nag someone repeatedly, especially to collect an unpaid debt.

    Dix Handley: Don’t bone me! Cobby: Now look, I’m not boning you, Dix— Dix: Did I ever welsh? Cobby: Nobody said you did— Dix: You just boned me!

    1950, Asphalt Jungle
26. 26
    verb

    To check or set out a level or straight line by sighting along posts, rods, or other objects.
27. 27
    verb

    To enrich soil by adding ground bone as a fertilizer.

    He cites an instance of land heavily boned 70 years ago as “still markedly luxuriant beyond any other grass land in the same district.”

    1859, The Economist