rattle the bones

verb

To play dice.

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Meanings

verbrattle the bones (third-person singular simple present rattles the bones, present participle rattling the bones, simple past and past participle rattled the bones)

present singular third person rattles the bones · participle present rattling the bones · participle past rattled the bones · past rattled the bones

  1. obsoleteslangnauticalTo play dice.

    Little Mr. Crow shook the dice up and down in his balled hands so long that the Butcher growled "Come on! Come on! Get done, man!" He continued to rattle the bones between his palms, and the Butchers red face twisted up into a scowl.

    1902 March, John Oxenham, “The Legion of the Lost”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume 85, number 509, pages 386–87
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: rattle the bones on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.