Severely reduced, as in During the Depression Grandmother's housekeeping money was cut to the bone. The phrase to the bone, literally meaning "through the flesh to the inmost part or core," dates from about 1400. This expression in effect means that everything extraneous has been cut away so that only bone remains.
cut to the bone
| Idioms: cut to the bone |
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| oscillating saw |
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 | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- rotary saw
- emancipation
- cut back (Idiom)
- bone (Idiom)
- aitchbone
- Stone Age Romeos (1955 Film)
- The Baddest of George Thorogood and the Destroyers (1992 Album by George Thorogood & the Destroyers)
- Gluchy Telefon (1990 Film)
- inscribed (in archaeology)
- cut (Idiom)
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