throw a bone to

English

Alternative forms

• throw someone a bone
• toss a bone to

Etymology

An allusion to the act of throwing a bone as food to a hungry dog.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

throw a bone to (third-person singular simple present throws a bone to, present participle throwing a bone to, simple past threw a bone to, past participle thrown a bone to)

1. (idiomatic) To provide support or assistance to, especially in one particular way or to a limited extent; to make a concession to.
   • 1875, Anthony Trollope, chapter 22, in The Way We Live Now, London: Chapman and Hall, […]:

     There was considerable uneasiness in the bosoms of others of the Directors. […] [T]hey knew that Lord Alfred had sold shares, and had received the profit. […] And if there was so much cause to fear Lord Alfred that it was necessary to throw him a bone, why should not they also make themselves feared?

   • 1944 January 14, “ILWU Votes for FR Plan”, in Berkeley Daily Gazette‎^[1], retrieved 11 July 2011, page 1:

     The union […] "regretted that the President thought it necessary to throw a bone to the anti-labor bloc" by saying the act would prevent strikes.

   • 1965 December 10, “U.S. Business: New Dam for the Dollar Drain”, in Time‎^[2], archived from the original on 5 January 2012:

     Throwing a bone to the banks, it will allow a 4% increase in overseas loans next year.

   • 1991 June 18, “Cowboys reward Wright with early starting position”, in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, retrieved 11 July 2011, page S1:

     The Dallas Cowboys yesterday gave a starting job to Alexander Wright, in effect throwing him a bone.

   • 1997, Mike Myers, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, spoken by Dr. Evil (Mike Myers):

     Can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here. What do we have?

   • 2006 June 16, Joseph Berger, “Acknowledging the Gay Part of Gay Marriage”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     And he did it on the day the Senate threw a bone to President Bush's evangelical base by voting on a Constitutional amendment declaring that only a union of a man and a woman constitutes marriage.