Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of bone.
  • noun A percussive folk musical instrument played as a pair in one hand, often made from bovine ribs.
  • noun informal The act of two fists meeting together in the manner equivalent to a high-five.
  • verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of bone.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance

Etymologies

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Examples

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  • I called chicken (as in the prepared poultry, not the living creature) bones as a kid. It is obvious why, right?

    February 19, 2007

  • Fried chicken was served at a large family gathering. Little Georgie was offered a piece of chicken: breast or drumstick? He would only reply, "Must have been a mamma chicken." Repeatedly. Insistently. Louder each time. Never lived that down!

    July 26, 2007

  • I used to work in a vertebrate collections. Lots of boxes of bones and feathers and eggs and things hung out on my desk.

    January 23, 2008

  • Bobbins for making lace, probably first made of bones. Hence bone lace. --Grose's 1787 A Provincial Glossary. Term from the north of England.

    May 4, 2011