bone

I UK [bəʊn] / US [boʊn] noun
Word forms "bone":
singular bone plural bones
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1) [countable] one of the hard parts that form a frame inside the body of a human or animal. This frame is called a skeleton

She fell and broke a bone in her foot.

Cook the fish, then carefully remove the bones.

He was thin, and his hip bones stuck out.

2)

a) [uncountable] the substance that bones are made of

The archaeologists found fragments of bone.

b) [only before noun] made of bone

a chess set with carved bone pieces

•

chilled/frozen to the bone — feeling very cold in every part of your body

cut/trim/pare something to the bone — to reduce something to the lowest possible level or amount

We've had to cut our profit margins to the bone in order to survive.

feel/know something in your bones — to feel certain about something, although you cannot explain or prove it

Something was wrong – she could feel it in her bones.

not have a bad/jealous etc bone in your body — used for emphasizing that someone is not bad/jealous etc in any way

I don't believe that Karl has a bad bone in his body.

on/off the bone — with/without the bones still in it

All these curries are made with chicken off the bone.

- a bone of contention

- close to the bone

- have a bone to pick with someone

- make no bones about something

- pick over the bones of something

See:

bag I, bare I, dry I, skin I

II UK [bəʊn] / US [boʊn] verb [transitive]
Word forms "bone":
present tense I/you/we/they bone he/she/it bones present participle boning past tense boned past participle boned

to remove the bones from meat or fish before cooking it

The chef boned the fish before grilling it.

boned chicken

Phrasal verbs:

- bone up