bone
Meanings
- A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
- Any of the components of an endoskeleton, made of this material.
- A bone of a fish; a fishbone.
- A bonefish.
- One of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame, the boning, originally made of whalebone.
- One of the fragments of bone held between the fingers of the hand and rattled together to keep time to music.
- Anything made of bone, such as a bobbin for weaving bone lace.
- The framework of anything.
- An off-white colour, like the typical colour of bone.
- A dollar.
- The wishbone formation.
- An erect penis; a boner.
- Of an off-white colour, like the colour of bone.
- To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.
- To fertilize with bone.
- To put whalebone into.
- To make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.
- To have sexual intercourse (with).
- To perform “bone pointing”, a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the victim.
- To study.
- To polish boots to a shiny finish.
- To nag, especially for an unpaid debt.
- Used before an adjective as an intensifier
- To apprehend, steal.
- To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.
- Clipping of trombone.
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community in Bonneville County, Idaho, United States, named after Orion Jost Bone.
- A Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber aircraft.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English bon, from Old English bān (“bone, tusk; the bone of a limb”), from Proto-Germanic *bainą (“bone”), from *bainaz (“straight”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to hit, strike, beat”). Cognate with Scots bane, been, bean, bein, bain (“bone”), North Frisian bian, Biin, biinj (“bone; leg”), West Frisian bien (“bone”), Dutch been (“bone; leg”), German Low German Been, Bein (“bone”), German Bein (“leg”), German Gebein (“bones”), Swedish ben (“bone; leg”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Icelandic bein (“bone; leg”), Breton benañ (“to cut, hew”), Latin perfinēs (“break through, break into pieces, shatter”), Avestan 𐬠𐬫𐬈𐬥𐬙𐬈 (byente, “they fight, hit”). Related also to Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favourable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”) (whence Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, beyn (“direct, prompt”), Scots bein, bien (“in good condition, pleasant, well-to-do, cosy, well-stocked, pleasant, keen”)), Icelandic beinn (“straight, direct, hospitable”), Norwegian bein (“straight, direct, easy to deal with”). See bain, bein.