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herringbone

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Canada/ˈhɛɹɪŋˌboʊn/

herringbone noun: a bone of a herring.

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
    • Mr Bloom walked behind the eyeless feet, a flatcut suit of herringbone tweed.1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
  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

Verb

herringbone (third-person singular simple present herringbones, present participle herringboning, simple past and past participle herringboned)

  1. To stitch in a herringbone pattern.
  2. To climb a hill by pointing the skis outward in a V-shape to keep from sliding backwards.

Forms of herringbone

Noun
pluralherringbones
alternative formherring-bone
Verb
third-person singular presentherringbones
present participleherringboning
past participleherringboned
pastherringboned

Origin of herringbone

From herring + bone.

Words formed from herringbone

Phrases with herringbone

Questions about herringbone

What does herringbone mean?
Herringbone means a bone of a herring.
What part of speech is herringbone?
Herringbone can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce herringbone?
Herringbone is pronounced /ˈhɛɹɪŋˌboʊn/ (Canada).
What is the plural of herringbone?
The plural of herringbone is herringbones.

Words near herringbone in the dictionary

  1. herring worm
  2. herring worms
  3. herring-bone
  4. herring-bones
  5. herring-gutted
  6. herringbone
  7. herringbone gear
  8. herringbone gears
  9. herringboned
  10. herringbones
  11. herringboning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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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