bone

Alternative forms

• bane, byen (dialectal)

Noun

An animal bone

bone (countable and uncountable, plural bones)

1. (uncountable) A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
   • a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie."‎, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63:

     Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

2. (countable) Any of the components of an endoskeleton, made of bone.
3. A bone of a fish; a fishbone.
4. One of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame, the boning, originally made of whalebone.
5. Anything made of bone, such as a bobbin for weaving bone lace.
6. (figuratively) The framework of anything.
7. An off-white colour, like the colour of bone.

   bone colour:  

8. (US, informal) A dollar.
9. (slang) An erect penis; a boner.
10. (slang, chiefly plural) A domino or dice.

Adjective

bone (not comparable)

1. Of an off-white colour, like the colour of bone.

Verb

bone (third-person singular simple present bones, present participle boning, simple past and past participle boned)

1. To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.
   • 1949, Kenneth Lewis Roberts, I Wanted to Write‎, page 44:

     One of the fish stalls specialized in boning shad, and he who has never eaten a boned shad baked twenty minutes on a hot oak plank has been deprived of the most delicious morsel that the ocean yields.

   • 1977, Prosper Montagné, Charlotte Snyder Turgeon, The New Larousse Gastronomique‎, page 73:

     The ballottine is made of a piece of meat, fowl, game or fish which is boned, stuffed, and rolled into the shape of a bundle. The term ballottine should strictly apply only to meat, boned and rolled, but not stuffed.

   • 2009, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, A History of Food‎, page 379:

     Then it is boned; keeping the bone in during cooking improves the flavour and enriches the meat with calcium.

   • 2011, Aliza Green, Steve Legato, The Fishmonger's Apprentice‎, page 38:

     Other fish suited to boning through the back include small bluefish, Arctic char, steelhead salmon, salmon, small wild striped bass, hybrid striped bass, Whitefish, drum, trout, and sea trout.

2. To fertilize with bone.
   • 1859 July 9, The Economist‎, page 758:

     He cites an instance of land heavily boned 70 years ago as “still markedly luxuriant beyond any other grass land in the same district.”

3. To put whalebone into.

   to bone stays

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ash to this entry?)

4. (civil engineering) To make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.

   boning rod

5. (vulgar, slang, of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.
   • 2006, Masta Ace (lyrics), “Sick of it all”, in Pariah:

     I am sick of rappers claiming they hot when they really not
     I am sick of rappers bragging about shit they ain’t really got
     These cats stay rapping about cars they don’t own
     I am sick of rappers bragging about models they don’t bone.

6. (Australia, dated, in Aboriginal culture) To perform "bone pointing", a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the victim.
   • 1962, Arthur Upfield, The Will of the Tribe, Collier Books, page 48:

     "You don't know!", Bony echoed. "You can tell me who boned me fifteen years ago on the other side of the world, and you can't tell me who killed the white-fella in the Crater".

7. (usually with "up") To study.

   bone up

   • 1896, Burt L. Standish, Frank Merriwell's Chums:

     "I know it. You do not study." "What's the use of boning all the time! I wasn't cut out for it."

8. To polish boots to a shiny finish.
   • c. 1980,, F. van Zy, SADF National Service (1979-1980)‎:

     "...the permanent boning (excessive polishing) of boots by recruits"

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

• Wikipedia list of bones in the human skeleton

Verb

bone (third-person singular simple present bones, present participle boning, simple past and past participle boned)

1. (transitive, slang) To apprehend, steal.
   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby‎, page 127:

     “Did I?” said Squeers, “Well it was rather a startling thing for a stranger to come and recommend himself by saying that he knew all about you, and what your name was, and why you were living so quiet here, and what you had boned, and who you had boned it from.”

   • 1915, William Roscoe Thayer, The Life and Letters of John Hay:

     […] as long as you and I live I take it for granted that you will not suspect me of boning them. But to guard against casualties hereafter, I have asked Nicolay to write you a line saying that I have never had in my possession or custody any of the papers which you entrusted to him.

   • 1936, J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Root of the Boot”, in Songs for the Philologists:

     But troll's old seat is much the same,
     And the bone he boned from its owner

   • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 802:

     Therefore she wants to take results that belong to other people: she wants to bone everybody else's loaf.

Verb

bone (third-person singular simple present bones, present participle boning, simple past and past participle boned)

1. (carpentry, masonry, surveying) To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

   • (Can we date this quote?), W. M. Buchanan, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Joiners, etc., bone their work with two straight edges.

Noun

bone (plural bones)

1. (slang) Clipping of trombone.

Related terms

• bona

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: boon
• Limburgish: boean