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The expression comes from an Emily Dickinson poem about a meeting with a snake. It's known as "The Snake," "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" and "Zero at the Bone". (Emily Dickinson rarely named her poems herself.) In context:

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone

I was surprised at how many different books had chosen this expression as their title. I think what they have in common is the feeling that goes with suddenly encountering something or someone deadly frightening: one goes into shock.

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Is a slang expression Zero at the Bone?

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