speal-bone

noun

The shoulder blade.

Meanings

nounspeal-bone (plural speal-bones)

plural speal-bones

  1. ScotlandobsoleteThe shoulder blade.
    1 more example

    In heteroscopic divination the process is rather one of inference from external facts. The methods are very various. […] In haruspication, or the inspection of entrails, in scapulomancy or divination by the speal-bone or shoulder-blade, in divination by footprints in ashes, found in Australia, Peru and Scotland, the voluntary element is prominent, for the diviner must take active steps to secure the conditions necessary to divination.

    1911, “Divination”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition, volume 8, New York, N.Y.: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., page 333

Origin

A variant of spule (“shoulder”) + bane (“bone”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

speal-bone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/speal-bone

MLA

“speal-bone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/speal-bone. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “speal-bone,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/speal-bone.

Source: speal-bone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.