I. bone 1 S2 W2 /bəʊn $ boʊn/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: ban ]
1 . [countable] one of the hard parts that together form the frame of a human, animal, or fish body:
The X-ray showed that the bone was broken in two places.
hip/leg/cheek etc bone (=the bone in your hip etc)
He broke his collar bone.
big-boned/fine-boned/small-boned etc (=with big etc bones)
She was tall and big-boned.
Amelia had inherited her mother’s good bone structure.
2 . [uncountable] a substance made of bones:
the bone handle of his dagger
3 . the bare bones the simplest and most important details of something:
I can’t tell you more than the bare bones of what happened.
4 . make no bones about (doing) something to not feel nervous or ashamed about doing or saying something:
Mary made no bones about enjoying a drink.
5 . bone of contention something that causes arguments between people:
The examination system has long been a serious bone of contention in this country.
6 . be chilled/frozen to the bone to be extremely cold
7 . skin and bone very thin:
She was all skin and bone.
8 . a bag of bones someone who is much too thin
9 . feel/know something in your bones to be certain that something is true, even though you have no proof and cannot explain why you are certain:
She knew that something good was sure to happen; she could feel it in her bones.
10 . have a bone to pick with somebody spoken used to tell someone that you are annoyed with them and want to talk about it
11 . close to the bone a remark, statement etc that is close to the bone is close to the truth in a way that may offend someone:
His jokes were a bit close to the bone.
12 . cut something to the bone to reduce costs, services etc as much as possible:
Shops cut prices to the bone in the January sales.
13 . on the bone meat that is served on the bone is still joined to the bone:
a boiled ham on the bone
14 . off the bone meat that is served off the bone has been cut away from the bone:
roasted duck, off the bone
⇨ dry as a bone at ↑ dry 1 (1), ⇨ work your fingers to the bone at ↑ work 1 (29)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + bone
▪ broken
The doctor thought that I had a broken bone in my wrist.
|
Luckily the bone wasn't broken.
▪ a thigh/hip/ankle etc bone
He was so thin that his hip bones were sticking out.
▪ human/animal bones
They dug up a lot of human bones from under the castle.
■ verbs
▪ break a bone
I hope you haven't broken a bone.
▪ fracture a bone (=to break a bone so that a line appears on the surface)
Sally fell, fracturing a bone in her leg.
■ bone + NOUN
▪ bone structure (=the shape of your face, formed by the bones in it)
She had beautiful eyes and fine bone structure.
▪ bone disease
He suffered from a rare bone disease.
II. bone 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
to remove the bones from fish or meat:
boned breast and thigh meat
bone up on something phrasal verb
to learn as much as you can about a subject, because you need the knowledge, for example for an examination:
I have to bone up on criminal law for a test next week.