bone
noun /bəʊn/
/bəʊn/
Idioms - [countable] any of the hard parts that form the skeleton of the body of a human or an animal
- He survived the accident with no broken bones.
- This fish has a lot of bones in it.
- She went for a bone density scan.
- The dog was gnawing at a bone.
- She had a beautiful face with very good bone structure.
Extra ExamplesTopics Bodya2- Her eyes were black in a face the colour of bleached bones.
- She was diagnosed as having brittle bones.
- The black and white photographs emphasized her fine bone structure.
- The shock jarred every bone in his body.
- the delicate bones of her face
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- delicate
- fine
- healthy
- …
- break
- chip
- crack
- …
- structure
- marrow
- cancer
- …
- every bone in somebody’s body
- skin and bone
- [uncountable] the hard substance that bones are made of
- knives with bone handles
- -boned(in adjectives) having bones of the type mentioned
- fine-boned
Word OriginOld English bān, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch been and German Bein.
Idioms
a bag of bones
- (informal) a very thin person or animal
- The cat hadn’t been fed for weeks and was just a bag of bones.
the bare bones (of something)
- the basic facts
- the bare bones of the story
a bone of contention
- a subject that causes people to disagree
- Where to go on holiday is always a bone of contention in our family.
close to the bone
- (informal) (of a remark, joke, story, etc.) so honest or clearly expressed that it is likely to cause offence to some people
- His comments about her size were a bit close to the bone.
- Some of the sex scenes in the play were judged by critics to be too close to the bone.
cut, pare, etc. something to the bone
- to reduce something, such as costs, as much as you possibly can
- Their annual budget has already been pared to the bone.
feel (it) in your bones (that…)
- (informal) to be certain about something even though you do not have any direct proof and cannot explain why you are certain
- I know I'm going to fail this exam—I can feel it in my bones.
have a bone to pick with somebody
- (informal) to be angry with somebody about something and want to discuss it with them
like a dog with a bone
- (informal) very determined and refusing to give up
- When she sensed a good story she was like a dog with a bone.
make no bones about (doing) something
- (informal) to be honest and open about something; to not hesitate to do something
- She made no bones about telling him exactly what she thought of him.
not have a… bone in your body
- (informal) to have none of the quality mentioned
- She was honest and hard-working, and didn't have an unkind bone in her body.
put flesh on (the bones of) something
- to develop a basic idea, etc. by giving more details to make it more complete
- The strength of the book is that it puts flesh on the bare bones of this argument.
(nothing but/all/only) skin and bone
- (informal) extremely thin in a way that is not attractive or healthy
- The dog lost more and more weight, and was soon little more than skin and bone.
- He's all skin and bone after his illness.
throw somebody a bone
- to give somebody a small part of what they want as a way of showing that you want to help them, without offering them the main thing they want
- She feels this new energy bill is just throwing a bone to the environmentalists.
to the bone
- affecting you very strongly
- His threats chilled her to the bone.
work your fingers to the bone
- to work very hard