Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - bone

~1 n 1 »BODY« one of the hard parts that together form the frame of a human or animal body  (The X-ray showed that the bone was broken in two places. | thigh/cheek/jaw etc bone (=the bone in your thigh etc))  (very prominent cheek bones) big-boned/fine-boned/small-boned etc (=with big etc bones)  (Grace was a tall, big-boned woman | good/fine bone structure (=someone with good bone structure has a well-shaped face)) 2 have a bone to pick with sb spoken used to tell someone that you are annoyed with them and want to talk about it 3 the bare bones the simplest and most important details of something  (This is just the bare bones of the plan - it's still in the early stages.) 4 make no bones about (doing) sth to not feel nervous or ashamed about doing or saying something  (We made no bones about our commitment to Marxism.) 5 be chilled/frozen to the bone extremely cold 6 a bone of contention something that causes arguments between people  (The question of unpaid overtime became the main bone of contention.) 7 a bag of bones someone who is much too thin 8 bones AmE dice1 (1) 9 close to the bone a remark, statement etc that is close to the bone, is close to the truth in a way that may offend someone  (Some of his jokes were a bit close to the bone.) 10 cut sth to the bone to reduce costs, services etc as much as possible 11 feel/know it in your bones to be certain that something is true, even though you have no proof and cannot explain why you are certain  (That boy's trouble, I can feel it in my bones.) 12 off the bone meat that is served off the bone has been cut away from the bone 13 on the bone meat that is served on the bone is still joined to the bone  (- see also dry as a bone dry1 (1), work your fingers to the bone work1 (27)) ~2 v to remove the bones from fish, or meat bone up ~ phr v informal to study hard for an examination  (I'm having to bone up on criminal law for a test next week.)