ˈknuckle-ˌbone
1. Any bone forming a knuckle; the rounded end, at the joint, of any of the bones of the fingers; also, † the projecting bone of the knee or elbow (obs.). down on the knuckle-bone, hard-up (slang).
| 1577 Dee Diary (Camden) 3 My fall uppon my right nuckul bone. 1690 Dryden Amphitryon ii. i, Bless me, what an arm and a fist he has..; and knuckle-bones of a very butcher. 1883 Daily Tel. 4 Aug. 2/1 Some one who was ‘down on the knuckle-bone’ in consequence of having been ‘put away’ since the previous October. |
2. In an animal: a. A limb-bone with a ball-like knob at the joint-end, or the rounded end of such a bone; also, a joint of meat consisting of this part of an animal's leg; = knuckle n. 3.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 280/2 Knokylle bone of a legge, coxa. 1530 Palsgr. 236/2 Knoccle bone, joincte de la hanche. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1226/4 A black brown Gelding..[having] a white spot upon one of his knuckle bones. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, He..hauled out an old knuckle-bone of ham, and two or three bottles of beer. |
b. One of the metacarpal or metatarsal bones of a sheep or the like; hence, (usually pl.) a game played with these, by tossing them up and catching them in various ways; also called huckle-bones or dibs.
| 1759 tr. Adanson's Voy. Senegal 52 The girls had for ornament round their waist a girdle of glass toys, or,..of a requien's knuckle-bones, or of cockle-shells. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark xii. 106 Courtyards very neatly paved with round pebbles and llama's knuckle-bones in patterns. 1884 J. Sharman Hist. Swearing iv. 63 School-boys still play at the game of knuckle-bones. 1885 New Bk. Sports 316 Knucklebones..is pre-eminently a game for man-by-himself-man. |