/ bəʊn; NAmE boʊn/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] 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.
2.
[ U ] the hard substance that bones are made of :
knives with bone handles
3.
-boned (in adjectives) having bones of the type mentioned :
fine-boned
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IDIOMS
- a bone of contention
- close to the bone
- cut, pare, etc. sth to the bone
- have a bone to pick with sb
- make no bones about (doing) sth
- not have a ... bone in your body
- throw sb a bone
- to the bone
—more at bag noun , bare adjective , feel verb , finger noun , flesh noun , skin noun
■ verb
[ vn ] to take the bones out of fish or meat
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PHRASAL VERBS
- bone up on sth
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English bān , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch been and German Bein .