Word.ws English Dictionary

bone

UK/bəʊn//boʊn/

bone noun: a composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates. Also the clipping of trombone.

bone: a composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the...
Image: Palica, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

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.
    • 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...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...
  2. (countable) Any of the components of an endoskeleton, made of this material.
    • No Trophee, Sword, nor Hatchment o're his bones.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  3. A bone of a fish; a fishbone.
  4. A bonefish.
    • The reason I rarely fish for Mag Bay bones with a 5-weight or 6-weight is the number of fish that can turn light stuff inside out.2019, Scott Sadil, “Tres Bocas”, in California Fly Fisher
  5. One of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame, the boning, originally made of whalebone.
    Synonyms:
    rib, stay
  6. One of the fragments of bone held between the fingers of the hand and rattled together to keep time to music.
  7. Anything made of bone, such as a bobbin for weaving bone lace.
  8. (figuratively) The framework of anything.
    • This year thus far I have travelled to eight of our laboratories talking about quality, telling the people who work in our company that quality is the muscle and bone of our company.1988, Clinical Laboratories: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, Second...
  9. An off-white colour, like the typical colour of bone.
  10. (US, in plural, informal) A dollar.
  11. (informal) The wishbone formation.
  12. (slang) An erect penis; a boner.
    • Speakin' on the phone, for hours on end / On the bone from just listenin', and then:2003, “Let Me Watch”, in Vaudeville Villain, performed by Viktor Vaughn ft. Apani B. Fly
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  1. (in plural, slang) A domino or die.
    • Let's head to the casino and roll them bones!
    • The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones.1899 (please specify the page), Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part
  2. (slang) A cannabis cigarette; a joint.
    • In between sets I took her outside, sat against a fence near the dumpster, and smoked a bone with her.2006, Sean Conway, Gillis Huckabee, page 140
  3. (figuratively) A reward.
    • When I'm a good dog they sometimes throw me a bone in1979, Pink Floyd, Nobody Home
    Synonyms:
    doggy treat

Adjective

bone (not comparable)

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

Verb (1)

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.
    • 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.1949, Kenneth Lewis Roberts, I Wanted to Write, page 44
    • 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.1977, Prosper Montagné, Charlotte Snyder Turgeon, The New Larousse Gastronomique, page 73
    Synonyms:
    debone, unbone
  2. To fertilize with bone.
    • He cites an instance of land heavily boned 70 years ago as “still markedly luxuriant beyond any other grass land in the same district.”1859 July 9, The Economist, page 758
  3. To put whalebone into.
    • Having my stays very fully boned and fitted with shoulder-straps.1871, Figure-Training
  4. To make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.
    • boning rod
  5. (ambitransitive, slang, usually, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse (with).
    • O Memmius, well and slowly did you bone me, supine, day by day, with the whole of that beam.1894, Catullus, translated by Leonard C. Smithers, The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus, section 58
    • We’re bonin’ on the dark blocks / Wearin’ out the shocks, wettin’ up the dashboard clock1993, “Back Seat (of My Jeep)”, in 14 Shots to the Dome, performed by LL Cool J
    Synonyms:
    approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple, engage in sex, exchange flesh, have intimate relations, have marital relations
  6. (Australia, dated) To perform “bone pointing”, a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the victim.
    • “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”.1962, Arthur Upfield, The Will of the Tribe, Collier Books, page 48
  7. (usually) To study.
    • bone up
    • “I know it. You do not study.” “What’s the use of boning all the time! I wasn’t cut out for it.”1896, Burt L. Standish, Frank Merriwell's Chums
  8. To polish boots to a shiny finish.
    • […] the permanent boning (excessive polishing) of boots by recruits […]c. 1980, F. van Zy, SADF National Service (1979-1980), archived from the original on 22 Jun 2004
  9. To nag, especially for an unpaid debt.
    • Dix Handley: Don’t bone me!
      Cobby: Now look, I’m not boning you, Dix—
      Dix: Did I ever welsh?
      Cobby: Nobody said you did—
      Dix: You just boned me!1950, Asphalt Jungle

Adverb

bone (not comparable)

  1. Used before an adjective as an intensifier
    • GWF, well almost anyway, 40, bone-lonely, desperately needs a friend in Southern Maine.1979 December 22, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 2, number 22, page 18

Verb (2)

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

  1. (slang, transitive) To apprehend, steal.
    • “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.”1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, page 127
    • […]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.1915, William Roscoe Thayer, The Life and Letters of John Hay

Verb (3)

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

  1. To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.
    • Joiners, &c., bone their work with two straight edges.1846, W. M. Buchanan, A Technological Dictionary, page 151

Proper noun capitalized: Bone

Bone (countable and uncountable, plural Bones)

  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Bonneville County, Idaho, United States, named after Orion Jost Bone.

Noun (2) capitalized: Bone

Bone (plural Bones)

  1. (slang) A Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber aircraft.

Also used as

bone is also the clipping of trombone.

bone meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bone in Hindi

material
हड्डी haḍḍī, अस्थि asthi
component of a skeleton
हड्डी haḍḍī, अस्थि asthi

bone in Tamil

material
எலும்பு elumpu
component of a skeleton
எலும்பு elumpu

bone in Marathi

material
अस्थि asthi, हाड hāḍ
component of a skeleton
हाड hāḍ
fishbone
काटा kāṭā

bone in Urdu

material
ہَڈّی haḍḍī, اَسْتِھ asthi, اُسْتُخوان ustuxvān, ہاڑ hāṛ, عَظْم 'azm
component of a skeleton
ہَڈّی haḍḍī, اَسْتِھ asthi, اُسْتُخوان ustuxvān, ہاڑ hāṛ
More languagesFewer languages
bone in Bengali
হাড় haṛ
bone in Telugu
ఎముక emuka, బొమికె bomike, బొక్క bokka
bone in Malayalam
എല്ല് ellŭ
bone in Kannada
ಮೂಳೆ mūḷe
bone in Punjabi
ਹੱਡੀ haḍḍī, ਅਸਥੀ asathī
bone in Gujarati
અસ્થિ asthi, હાડકું hāḍkũ
bone in Odia
ହାଡ hāḍa, ହାଡ଼ hāṛa, ଅସ୍ଥି asthi
bone in Sanskrit
अस्थि asthi
bone in Sinhala
ගිනිමැලය ginimælaya
bone in Assamese
হাড় har
bone in Nepali
हड्डी
bone in Pashto
هډوکى haḍukay, هډ haḍ
bone in Tagalog
weso, buto
bone in Arabic
عَظْم ʕaẓm, عضم ʕaḍm, عَظْمَة ʕaẓma, عضمة ʕaḍma
bone in Malay
tulang
bone in Indonesian
tulang
bone in Persian
اُسْتُخْوَان ustuxwān, اُسْتُخوَان ustuxān, اُسْتُخوان ostoxân, اُسْتُخون ostoxun
bone in Thai
กระดูก grà-dùuk
bone in Vietnamese
chất xương, xương, màu xương, gỡ xương
bone in Myanmar
အရိုး a.rui:
Dhivehi
ކަށި kaṣi

Examples of bone in a sentence

  • Then it is boned; keeping the bone in during cooking improves the flavour and enriches the meat with calcium.2009, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, A History of Food, page 379:
  • Stash in the buildin wit this chick named Alona / From Daytona, when I was young I wants to bone her1997, “It's All About the Benjamins”, in No Way Out, performed by Puff Daddy:
  • We were sitting in the student union between classes, and I had just been trying to decide which one of them I was gonna bone first that night.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 153:
  • […]These cats stay rapping about cars they don't own / I am sick of rappers bragging about models they don't bone2006, “Sick of it all”, in Masta Ace (lyrics), Pariah:

All 40 example sentences with bone

Synonyms of bone

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of bone

Forms of bone

Noun
pluralbones
pluralBones
alternative form (dialectal)bane
alternative form (dialectal)byen
Verb
third-person singular presentbones
present participleboning
past participleboned
pastboned
Proper noun
pluralBones

Past tense of bone: boned

Plural of bone: bones

Origin of bone

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.

Unknown; probably related in some way to Etymology 1, above.

Borrowed from French bornoyer (“to look at with one eye, to sight”), from borgne (“one-eyed”).

Words formed from bone

Phrases with bone

167 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bone

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bone

What does bone mean?
Bone means a composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
What is bone in Hindi?
Bone in Hindi is हड्डी (haḍḍī), अस्थि (asthi). See Bone meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bone in a sentence?
Then it is boned; keeping the bone in during cooking improves the flavour and enriches the meat with calcium.
What part of speech is bone?
Bone can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or an adverb.
How do you pronounce bone?
Bone is pronounced /bəʊn/ (UK).
What is the plural of bone?
The plural of bone is bones.

Words near bone in the dictionary

  1. bondwomen
  2. bondwork
  3. Bondy
  4. Bondye
  5. Bondys
  6. bone
  7. bone age
  8. bone ages
  9. bone apple tea
  10. bone apple teeth
  11. bone ash

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bone (page history and authors); Bone (page history and authors); bone (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-bone.ogg, EN-AU ck1 bone.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.