Word.ws English Dictionary

herring-bone

herring-bone is the alternative form of herringbone.

Meaning of herringbone

Noun

herringbone (countable and uncountable, plural herringbones)

  1. (countable, literally) A bone of a herring.
    • The prosperity of Amsterdam was then so great that it was said that Amsterdam was "founded on herring-bones."1884, Samuel Smiles, Men of Invention and Industry
  2. A zigzag pattern, especially made by bricks, on a cloth, or by stitches in sewing.
    • 'The best path of life is but a herring-bone pattern.'1861, Charlotte Yonge, The Young Step-Mother
  3. (countable) A method of climbing a hill by pointing the skis outward in a V-shape to keep from sliding backwards.
  4. Twilled fabric woven in rows of parallel sloping lines.
    • For some strange and elusive reason, the staid, prosaic herringbones have angled themselves into a position of fashion prominence.1963, Men's Wear, volume 147, page 39

See all 6 meanings of herringbone

Forms of herring-bone

pluralherring-bones

Questions about herring-bone

What is herring-bone the alternative form of?
Herring-bone is the alternative form of herringbone.

Words near herring-bone in the dictionary

  1. herring gulls
  2. herring pond
  3. herring under a fur coat
  4. herring worm
  5. herring worms
  6. herring-bone
  7. herring-bones
  8. herring-gutted
  9. herringbone
  10. herringbone gear
  11. herringbone gears

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: herring-bone (page history and authors); herringbone (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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Cite this entry: “herring-bone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/herring-bone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.