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bonehouse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
bonehouse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
bonehouse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
bonehouse you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Old English bānhūs (“the body, the chest, breast”, literally “the bone-house”), equivalent to bone + house.
Noun
bonehouse (plural bonehouses)
- (poetic) A body.
1998, Gary Gach, What Book!?: Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop:[…] beyond whatever - a comfort to consider those bones - Or run my hand over elastic frail ribcage, the woman I love, her pulse of desire. What store of affection inside the bonehouse? Tilt of the chin, and how her denim skirt falls to her shoes.
1998, Alvin A. Lee, Gold-Hall and Earth-Dragon:A human body is not a house, says our logical mind. But as soon as we say this, the kenning urges us to consider or puzzle over why, after all, a human body in some special, important way is a house, and why moreover it is a 'bonehouse.'
2012, Zack Eswine, Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry As a Human Being:The skylark is our souls, residing within our bodies (bonehouses).
2012, David Crystal, The Story of English in 100 Words:What comes into your mind when you hear the word bonehouse? It sounds like a building ... But they used it to talk about something very different: the human body while still alive. It paints a wonderful picture.
- (poetic) A corpse.
1990, Peter Stitt, Frank Graziano, James Wright: The Heart of the Light:[…] but the poet, having moved through a landscape that is defined by images of barrenness and desolation — trees "lorn of all delicious apple," an empty house given over to "dust that filmed the deadened air," "the bonehouse of a rabbit," […]
Etymology 2
From bone + house.
Noun
bonehouse (plural bonehouses)
- A building for holding the remains of the dead.
Synonyms