Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A bone of the jaw, especially the bone of the lower jaw.
- v. To try to influence or pressure through strong persuasion, especially to urge to comply voluntarily.
- v. To urge voluntary compliance with official wishes or guidelines.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Any bone of the jaws, as a maxillary or mandibular bone; especially, a bone of the lower jaw.
Wiktionary
- n. The bone of the lower jaw, the mandible.
- n. Any of the bones in lower or upper jaw.
- v. To talk persistently to persuade a person or people to cooperate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The bone of either jaw; a maxilla or a mandible.
- v. To attempt to influence solely by talking, as contrasted with threatening or inducing by other means, e.g. legislation; esp. to make public appeals in order to influence the behavior of businessmen or labor leaders; -- used especially of the President or other high government officials.
WordNet 3.0
- v. talk idly or casually and in a friendly way
- n. the jaw in vertebrates that is hinged to open the mouth
Examples
“He believes the find is the first jawbone from a meat-eating dinosaur ever found in Maryland.”
“The membrane behind the jawbone is essentially avascular and bleeds very little, if at all, and although I have no doubt that this procedure causes some minor discomfort for the fish, keep in mind these creatures routinely eat very spiny baitfish, so they are used to puncture wounds inside the mouth.”
“She has no idea where the jawbone is or if it has been buried.”
“His skull was broken open and his jawbone was a short distance away.”
“When they have ceased to run, the bundle is opened and the bones taken out and buried, except the lower jawbone, which is preserved, sometimes along with one of the lower arm bones.”
“Will the new administration "jawbone" the markets or introduce unexpected proposals?”
“All the players are in place: silent, petulant Bush demanding not to be questioned because he's the Decider; Dick Cheney is the Enforcer, twisting senators 'arms and breathing his brimstone in their faces (any time you see "jawbone" used as a verb, you know Cheney must be in the vicinity); an appointee of the executive testifying to the need for a radical consolidation of power in one agency, a la Ashcroft 2001.”
Pete Cenedella: Disaster Movie 2: If You Liked the Patriot Act, You'll Love BAILOUT!
“When Bush first ran for president in 2000, he criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said the president must "jawbone" oil producing nations and persuade them to drop rates.”
“At the GOP debate in Manchester NH on January 26, 2000, Bush said he would be the most successful at keeping oil prices low because he would "jawbone" OPEC nations to keep oil prices down.”
“Maybe that's why the Saudis told Bush to jump in the sand when he asked for more oil despite Bush's 2000 election promise to "jawbone" them into lowering oil prices.”
More Wall Street Profits, More Drilling, More Refineries, Less Innovation
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jawbone’.
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O Canada
Words known to Canadians. These may not be understood by other North Americans, eh?
zamboni, poutine, touque, zed, inukshuk, noseeum, timbits, Alberta clipper, beer parlour, bonspiel, CANDU, chesterfield and 35 more...
reesetee Whenever I see this word, I finish it with "of an ass." Apparently it's a good weapon for doing away with Philistines. Oct 13, 2007
skipvia See also recursion. Oct 13, 2007