boneless

World English Dictionary

bone (bəʊn)

—n
1.	any of the various structures that make up the skeleton in most vertebrates
2.	the porous rigid tissue of which these parts are made, consisting of a matrix of collagen and inorganic salts, esp calcium phosphate, interspersed with canals and small holesRelated: osseous, osteal
3.	something consisting of bone or a bonelike substance
4.	(plural) the human skeleton or body: they laid his bones to rest; come and rest your bones
5.	a thin strip of whalebone, light metal, plastic, etc, used to stiffen corsets and brassieres
6.	(plural) the essentials (esp in the phrase the bare bones): to explain the bones of a situation
7.	(plural) dice
8.	(plural) an informal nickname for a doctor
9.	close to the bone, near the bone
	a. risqué or indecent: his jokes are rather close to the bone
	b. in poverty; destitute
10.	feel in one's bones to have an intuition of
11.	have a bone to pick to have grounds for a quarrel
12.	make no bones about
	a. to be direct and candid about
	b. to have no scruples about
13.	(Austral) (often foll by at) point the bone
	a. to wish bad luck (on)
	b. to threaten to bring about the downfall (of)

—vb
14.	to remove the bones from (meat for cooking, etc)
15.	to stiffen (a corset, etc) by inserting bones
16.	to fertilize with bone meal
17.	taboo, slang to have sexual intercourse with
18.	(Brit) a slang word for steal

Related: osseous, osteal

[Old English bān; related to Old Norse béin, Old Frisian bēn, Old High German bein]

'boneless

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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