marrowbone

English

Etymology

From marrow +‎ bone.

Noun

marrowbone (plural marrowbones)

1. A bone containing edible marrow. [from 14th c.]
2. (humorous, chiefly in the plural) The shins or knees, chiefly in references to kneeling. [from 16th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 56, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume II, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Upon this condescension, the culprit was called up stairs^[sic], and made acquainted with the mitigation of his fate; upon which he said, he would down on his marrow-bones to his own master, but would be damn'd before he would ask pardon of e'er a Frenchman in Christendom.

   • 1861, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Once a Week, volume 4, page 246:

     So the news of the split between the old and the young one caused plenty of conversation, you may be sure; and will Mr. Robert go down on his marrowbones? and what has he done? was all the question.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     They would all to a man have gone down on their marrowbones to him.

Translations

bone with edible marrow

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ծուծոսկր (cucoskr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 髓骨 (suǐgǔ)

• Dutch: mergbeen n
• Estonian: üdikont (et)
• Finnish: ydinluu (fi)
• French: os à moelle (fr) m
• German: Markknochen m
• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: velőscsont (hu)
• Irish: cnámh smeara m
• Italian: osso con midollo m, ossobuco (it) m, osso buco m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Lombard: òss bus m
• Northern Sami: cabbi
• Polish: kość szpikowa f
• Russian: мозгова́я кость f (mozgovája kostʹ)
• Scots: marrae-bane, (Insular Scots) merkie-bane
• Spanish: hueso con tuétano m, tuétano (es) m
• Swedish: märgben n, märgpipa c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• bone marrow, bonemarrow