bone

plural bones · alternative dialectal bane · alternative dialectal byen

1. uncountableA composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.

   1 more example

   Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

   a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie.", London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63

2. countableAny of the components of an endoskeleton, made of this material.

   No Trophee, Sword, nor Hatchment o're his bones.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 275, column 1

3. countableuncountableA bone of a fish; a fishbone.
4. countableuncountableA bonefish.

   The reason I rarely fish for Mag Bay bones with a 5-weight or 6-weight is the number of fish that can turn light stuff inside out.

   2019, Scott Sadil, “Tres Bocas”, in California Fly Fisher

5. countableuncountableOne of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame, the boning, originally made of whalebone.

   Synonyms: rib, stay

6. countableuncountableOne of the fragments of bone held between the fingers of the hand and rattled together to keep time to music.
7. countableuncountableAnything made of bone, such as a bobbin for weaving bone lace.
8. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe framework of anything.

   This year thus far I have travelled to eight of our laboratories talking about quality, telling the people who work in our company that quality is the muscle and bone of our company.

   1988, Clinical Laboratories: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, March 10 and July 27, 1988, volume 4, page 299

9. countableuncountableAn off-white colour, like the typical colour of bone.
10. UScountablein pluralinformaluncountableA dollar.
11. countableinformaluncountableAmerican footballThe wishbone formation.
12. countableslanguncountableAn erect penis; a boner.

    Speakin' on the phone, for hours on end / On the bone from just listenin', and then:

    2003, “Let Me Watch”, in Vaudeville Villain, performed by Viktor Vaughn ft. Apani B. Fly

13. countablein pluralslanguncountableA domino or die.

    Let's head to the casino and roll them bones!

    1 more example

    The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones.

    1899 (please specify the page), Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part

14. countableslanguncountableA cannabis cigarette; a joint.

    In between sets I took her outside, sat against a fence near the dumpster, and smoked a bone with her.

    2006, Sean Conway, Gillis Huckabee, page 140

15. countablefigurativelyuncountableA reward.

    When I'm a good dog they sometimes throw me a bone in

    1979, Pink Floyd, Nobody Home

    Synonyms: doggy treat

alternative dialectal bane · alternative dialectal byen

1. not comparableOf an off-white colour, like the colour of bone.

present singular third person bones · participle present boning · participle past boned · past boned · alternative dialectal bane · alternative dialectal byen

1. To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.

   Then it is boned; keeping the bone in during cooking improves the flavour and enriches the meat with calcium.

   2009, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, A History of Food, page 379

   3 more examples

   One of the fish stalls specialized in boning shad, and he who has never eaten a boned shad baked twenty minutes on a hot oak plank has been deprived of the most delicious morsel that the ocean yields.

   1949, Kenneth Lewis Roberts, I Wanted to Write, page 44

   The ballottine is made of a piece of meat, fowl, game or fish which is boned, stuffed, and rolled into the shape of a bundle. The term ballottine should strictly apply only to meat, boned and rolled, but not stuffed.

   1977, Prosper Montagné, Charlotte Snyder Turgeon, The New Larousse Gastronomique, page 73

   Other fish suited to boning through the back include small bluefish, Arctic char, steelhead salmon, salmon, small wild striped bass, hybrid striped bass, Whitefish, drum, trout, and sea trout.

   2011, Aliza Green, Steve Legato, The Fishmonger's Apprentice, page 38

   Synonyms: debone, unbone

2. To fertilize with bone.

   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 July 9, The Economist, page 758

3. To put whalebone into.

   Having my stays very fully boned and fitted with shoulder-straps.

   1871, Figure-Training

4. civil engineeringTo make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.

   boning rod

5. ambitransitiveslangusuallyvulgarTo have sexual intercourse (with).

   O Memmius, well and slowly did you bone me, supine, day by day, with the whole of that beam.

   1894, Catullus, translated by Leonard C. Smithers, The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus, section 58

   5 more examples

   We’re bonin’ on the dark blocks / Wearin’ out the shocks, wettin’ up the dashboard clock

   1993, “Back Seat (of My Jeep)”, in 14 Shots to the Dome, performed by LL Cool J

   Stash in the buildin wit this chick named Alona / From Daytona, when I was young I wants to bone her

   1997, “It's All About the Benjamins”, in No Way Out, performed by Puff Daddy

   We were sitting in the student union between classes, and I had just been trying to decide which one of them I was gonna bone first that night.

   2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 153

   […]These cats stay rapping about cars they don't own / I am sick of rappers bragging about models they don't bone

   2006, “Sick of it all”, in Masta Ace (lyrics), Pariah

   When we return we'll find out which one of our six remaining contestants' dreams will be totally ruined, like your mom's reputation after I bone her face.

   2007, Stacey Deddo, The Elimination Special, Part II: The Elimination (Drawn Together), season 3, episode 14, spoken by The Jew Producer (James Arnold Taylor), via Comedy Central

   Synonyms: approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple, engage in sex, exchange flesh

6. AustraliadatedTo perform “bone pointing”, a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the 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, Collier Books, page 48

7. usuallyTo study.

   bone up

   1 more example

   “I know it. You do not study.” “What’s the use of boning all the time! I wasn’t cut out for it.”

   1896, Burt L. Standish, Frank Merriwell's Chums

8. To polish boots to a shiny finish.

   […] the permanent boning (excessive polishing) of boots by recruits […]

   c. 1980, F. van Zy, SADF National Service (1979-1980), archived from the original on 22 Jun 2004

9. To nag, especially for 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

alternative dialectal bane · alternative dialectal byen

1. not comparableUsed before an adjective as an intensifier

   GWF, well almost anyway, 40, bone-lonely, desperately needs a friend in Southern Maine.

   1979 December 22, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 2, number 22, page 18

present singular third person bones · participle present boning · participle past boned · past boned

1. slangtransitiveTo apprehend, steal.

   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”, in Songs for the Philologists

   3 more examples

   “Did I?” said Squeers, “Well it was rather a startling thing for a stranger to come and recommend himself by saying that he knew all about you, and what your name was, and why you were living so quiet here, and what you had boned, and who you had boned it from.”

   1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, page 127

   […]as long as you and I live I take it for granted that you will not suspect me of boning them. But to guard against casualties hereafter, I have asked Nicolay to write you a line saying that I have never had in my possession or custody any of the papers which you entrusted to him.

   1915, William Roscoe Thayer, The Life and Letters of John Hay

   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, Canongate, published 2006, page 802

present singular third person bones · participle present boning · participle past boned · past boned

1. businessTo sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.

   Joiners, &c., bone their work with two straight edges.

   1846, W. M. Buchanan, A Technological Dictionary, page 151

plural bones

1. abbreviationclippingslangClipping of trombone.

plural Bones

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Bonneville County, Idaho, United States, named after Orion Jost Bone.

plural Bones

1. slanggovernmentA Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber aircraft.