ridgebone

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: ridge-bone

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English rygge-bone, rigbone, from Old English hryċġbān (backbone; spine), from Proto-West Germanic *hruggjabain, from Proto-Germanic *hrugjabainą (backbone); equivalent to ridge (the back) +‎ bone.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

ridgebone (plural ridgebones)

  1. (anatomy, rare, also figuratively) The backbone or spine.
    • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXII.] Chapter XXI.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. [], 2nd tome, London: [] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
      [T]he corrupt blood [] lying cluttered about the ridge-bone.
    • 1815, G. LLOYD (Riding Master, and SYMES (R.)), R. SYMES, The Improved Art of Riding, Etc:
      Let your body be erect and straight, your ridgebone answering to that of the horse; so that his body and your's may appear but as one piece of mechanism.
    • 2005, Brock Brower, Nancy Lawton, Blue Dog, Green River:
      And running zigzag down its back, you can see its squiggly ridgebone taking all the meanders you can see right down below. "That ridgebone is the river, I swear. Rising sun hits it dead the same way, only earlier, over the plateau.
    • 2013, Steve Vera, Drynn:
      [] ; a Drynnian ridgebone was made for combat, hunting, and tunneling rock. It was also a very good shield and with it, he parried the blow meant for his head.
    • 2015, Adele DeGirolamo, Stolen Child - In-Between: Book Two:
      “Voila, my little angry one,” Markus spoke, looking at the foreign piece of junk that had been yanked free without any further struggle, straight out of the ridgebone of his back.

References

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]