pare to the bone

verb

To pare down to an extreme degree.

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Meanings

verbpare to the bone (third-person singular simple present pares to the bone, present participle paring to the bone, simple past and past participle pared to the bone)

present singular third person pares to the bone · participle present paring to the bone · participle past pared to the bone · past pared to the bone

  1. transitiveTo pare down to an extreme degree.

    Distilling costs were already pared to the bone, and the serious credit crisis in Bordeaux in 1789 first put at risk those houses which were already short of resources.

    2002, L. M. Cullen, The Brandy Trade Under the Ancien Régime, page 246
Cite this entry
APA

pare to the bone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pare%20to%20the%20bone

MLA

“pare to the bone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pare%20to%20the%20bone. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pare to the bone,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pare%20to%20the%20bone.

Source: pare to the bone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.