jawbone
/dʒˈɔbˌoʊn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.68 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A shaken musical instrument (an idiophone) made from the jawbone of an animal and shaken such that the teeth vibrate in their sockets to produce sound.
Countable
verb
(especially of regulatory agencies) To try to persuade (someone) through implied threats of punitive action, such as tighter regulatory control.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "14 ¶ And when he came vnto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily vpon him, and the cordes that were vpon his armes became as flaxe that was burnt with fire, & his bands loosed from off his hands. 15 And he found a new iawbone of an asse, and put foorth his hand, and tooke it, and slewe a thousand men therewith. 16 And Samson said, With the iawbone of an asse, heapes vpon heapes, with the iaw of an asse haue I slaine a thousand men. 17 And it came to passe when he had made an end of speaking, that hee cast away the iaw bone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-Lehi."
- "We have a few persons whose pockets are to let—men who have more complaints than dollars—individuals who, in digger's parlance, live on jawbone (credit), and are always to be found at saloons; a class of men who, when they are here, wish themselves yonder, and when yonder, wish themselves back."
- "“We got a winner. He stole her glasses and she couldn't see. Boring.” (crowd jeering) “Give me my glasses back.” “I'm gonna give your glasses to your master.” “Lot of jawboning going on.” “Okay? Here you go. It was nice meeting you, okay?” “...a little less hot air, but I present to you our new familiar champion, this guy right here. Never caught his name, never caught his name.”"
Etymology
From Middle English jawe bone, a partial calque of earlier Middle English chawlbone, chawylbon, chavylbone, chawle boon, chavyl bon (“jaw bone”, literally “chavel bone”), see chavel-bone; equivalent to jaw + bone.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
jawbones (plural)
jaw bone (alternative)
jaw-bone (alternative)
chawe bone (alternative, obsolete)
chaw-bone (alternative, obsolete)
chawbone (alternative, obsolete)
jawbones (present, singular)
jawboning (participle, present)
jawboned (participle, past)
jawboned (past)
Derived Forms
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
inferior maxillary bone
lower jaw
mandible
submaxilla
dentary
dentary bone
maxilla
mandibula
mandibular bone
lower jawbone
jowl