BONE


Meaning of BONE in English

■ noun

1》 any of the pieces of hard, whitish tissue making up the skeleton in vertebrates.

↘( one's ~s ) one's body.

2》 the calcified material of which ~s consist.

↘a thing made of a substance resembling ~, e.g. a strip of stiffening for an undergarment.

3》 (in southern Africa) one of a set of carved dice or ~s used by traditional healers in divination.

■ verb

1》 remove the ~s from (meat or fish) before cooking.

2》 ( ~ up on ) informal study (a subject) intensively.

Phrases

~ of contention a source of continuing disagreement.

close to the ~ (of a remark) accurate to the point of causing discomfort.

↘(of a joke or story) near the limit of decency.

cut (or pare ) something to the ~ reduce something to the bare minimum.

have a ~ to pick with someone informal have reason to disagree or be annoyed with someone.

in one's ~s felt or believed deeply or instinctively.

make no ~s about have no hesitation in stating or dealing with (something unpleasant).

off (or on ) the ~ (of meat or fish) having had the ~s removed (or left in).

to the ~

1》 (of a wound) so deep as to expose a ~.

2》 (especially of cold) affecting a person in a penetrating way.

work one's fingers to the ~ work very hard.

Derivatives

~d adjective

~less adjective

Origin

OE bān , of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English vocab.      Сжатый оксфордский словарь английского языка.