bone

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [C] any of the hard parts that form the SKELETON of the body of a human or an animal: He survived the accident with no broken bones. * This fish has a lot of bones in it. * The dog was gnawing at a bone. * She had a beautiful face with very good bone structure. 2 [U] the hard substance that bones are made of: knives with bone handles 3 (-boned) (in adjectives) having bones of the type mentioned: fine-boned IDIOMS a bone of contention a subject which causes disagreement and arguments between people close to the bone (BrE, informal) (of a remark, joke, story, etc.) so honest or clearly expressed that it is likely to cause offence to some people: His comments about her size were a bit close to the bone. * Some of the sex scenes in the play were judged by critics to be too close to the bone. cut, pare, etc. sth to the bone to reduce sth, such as costs, as much as you possibly can: Their annual budget has already been pared to the bone. have a bone to pick with sb (spoken) to be angry with sb about sth and want to discuss it with them make no bones about (doing) sth to be honest and open about sth; to not hesitate to do sth: She made no bones about telling him exactly what she thought of him. to the bone affecting you very strongly: His threats chilled her to the bone. moreatBAGn., BAREadj., FEELv., FINGERn., FLESHn., SKINn. verb [VN] to take the bones out of fish or meat PHRASALVERBS bone up on sth (informal) to try to learn about sth or to remind yourself of what you already know about it: She had boned up on the city's history before the visit.