Word.ws English Dictionary

have a bone in one's leg

have a bone in one's leg verb: used as a fatuous excuse to avoid doing something.

Verb

have a bone in one's leg (third-person singular simple present has a bone in one's leg, present participle having a bone in one's leg, simple past and past participle had a bone in one's leg)

  1. (UK, informal) Used as a fatuous excuse to avoid doing something.
    • - Jimmy, run along to the shop and get some potatoes.
      - I can't: I've got a bone in my leg.

Forms of have a bone in one's leg

third-person singular presenthas a bone in one's leg
present participlehaving a bone in one's leg
past participlehad a bone in one's leg
pasthad a bone in one's leg

Questions about have a bone in one's leg

What does have a bone in one's leg mean?
Have a bone in one's leg means used as a fatuous excuse to avoid doing something.
What part of speech is have a bone in one's leg?
Have a bone in one's leg is a verb.
What is the past tense of have a bone in one's leg?
The past tense of have a bone in one's leg is had a bone in one's leg.

Words near have a bone in one's leg in the dictionary

  1. have a ball
  2. have a bar of it
  3. have a bird
  4. have a bite
  5. have a blessed one
  6. have a bone in one's leg
  7. have a bone to pick
  8. have a brick in one's hat
  9. have a bun in the oven
  10. have a care
  11. have a clue

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have a bone in one's leg (page history and authors). 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.

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