Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, resembling, or consisting of bone.
  • adjective Having an internal skeleton of bones.
  • adjective Full of bones.
  • adjective Having prominent or protruding bones.
  • adjective Lean; scrawny.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Consisting of bone or bones; full of bones; pertaining to or of the nature of bone.
  • Having large or prominent bones; stout; strong.
  • Reduced to bones; thin; attenuated.
  • Hard and tough like bone, as the fruit and seeds of some plants.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Consisting of bone, or of bones; full of bones; pertaining to bones.
  • adjective Having large or prominent bones.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) the menhaden.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) the gar pike (Lepidosteus).

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

  • adjective resembling, having the appearance or consistence of, or relating to bone; osseous.
  • adjective full of bones
  • adjective with little flesh; skinny, thin
  • adjective having prominent bones

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

  • adjective very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold
  • adjective composed of or containing bone
  • adjective having bones especially many or prominent bones

Etymologies

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Examples

  • "'And where do you think you are going then?' said I." He lifted one little thin bony arm from under his coverlid, and through all the dirt and the pallor of his face the smile of heaven I am sure was on it, as he looked and pointed upward and answered, 'Jesus!'

    The Wide, Wide World 1892

  • And the thing is, that (1) while we know that mammals have pinnae, that doesn’t mean that non-mammalian mammaliaforms did, and (2) it’s well established that basal mammaliaforms like Megazostrodon differed in bony ear anatomy from mammals.

    Archive 2006-01-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • When they had closed the mine, the owners had dumped a couple of truckloads of bony, which is nothing more than the reject stuff from the shakers in the tipple, onto the road to the mine.

    SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles - Part 1021 2009

  • When they had closed the mine, the owners had dumped a couple of truckloads of bony, which is nothing more than the reject stuff from the shakers in the tipple, onto the road to the mine.

    Dynamite Magazine | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2009

  • Although he is called a bony ass on account of his strength, [209] which would enable him to endure labors, especially such as were rustic, yet at the same time his sloth is indicated: for it is added a little afterwards, that he should be of servile disposition.

    Commentary on Genesis - Volume 2 1509-1564 1996

  • At Fig. 2 we have removed the skin and muscles and exposed the two main structural features in the form of the eye, namely the bony ring of the socket and the globe containing the lenses and retina.

    The Practice and Science of Drawing Harold Speed

  • It was of the kind commonly called the bony-tail or humpback or buffalo-fish, a peculiar species found in many of the rivers of the Southwest.

    Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico

  • What is called a bony lesion by the osteopath and a subluxation by the chiropractor, is in reality a "ligatight," that is, a shrunken condition of the connective tissue forming the various ligaments that bind the vertebrae together.

    Nature Cure Henry Lindlahr 1893

  • It is now known as the bony-scaled pike, or gar pike, _Lepidosteus osseus_.

    Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02 Samuel de Champlain 1601

  •       “Her face, a little, But don't you find her kind of bony?”

    Elevator Neighbors 2010

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