bone to pick

plural bones to pick

1. idiomaticinformalusuallyA disagreeable matter to settle with somebody.

   There are a few plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions in lesser populated areas, but big-city courts had few suits that did not involve medical error and "a legitimate bone to pick."

   2006 October, Terry Carter, “Tort Reform Texas Style”, in ABA Journal, volume 92, number 10, pages 30–36

   1 more example

   "I say, Winthrop," he cried, "I've got a bone to pick with you. You've been hitting me pretty hard in that rag of yours. Do you know what a public man down in the Gulf States does with an editor who attacks him?"

   1903, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 1, in Before the Dawn

   Synonyms: crow to pick, crow to pluck, crow to pull