"bone to pick" meaning in English

See bone to pick in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: bones to pick [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|bones to pick}} bone to pick (plural bones to pick)
  1. (informal, idiomatic, usually with with) A disagreeable matter to settle with somebody. Tags: idiomatic, informal, usually Synonyms: crow to pick, crow to pluck, crow to pull Derived forms: have a bone to pick Translations (disagreeable matter to settle with somebody): 不滿 /不满 (bùmǎn) (Chinese Mandarin), 意見 /意见 (yìjiàn) (Chinese Mandarin), kana kynittävänä (Finnish), kosa [feminine] (Polish), nemulțumire (Romanian), chestiune de reproșat (Romanian), problemă de lămurit (Romanian), răfuială (Romanian), craw tae pluck (Scots)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bones to pick",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bones to pick"
      },
      "expansion": "bone to pick (plural bones to pick)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "kind": "other",
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        },
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Romanian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Scots translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "have a bone to pick"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              41,
              53
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1903, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 1, in Before the Dawn:",
          "text": "\"I say, Winthrop,\" he cried, \"I've got a bone to pick with you. You've been hitting me pretty hard in that rag of yours. Do you know what a public man down in the Gulf States does with an editor who attacks him?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              163,
              175
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 October, Terry Carter, “Tort Reform Texas Style”, in ABA Journal, volume 92, number 10, pages 30–36:",
          "text": "There are a few plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions in lesser populated areas, but big-city courts had few suits that did not involve medical error and \"a legitimate bone to pick.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A disagreeable matter to settle with somebody."
      ],
      "id": "en-bone_to_pick-en-noun-5KiYm0gs",
      "links": [
        [
          "disagreeable",
          "disagreeable"
        ],
        [
          "matter",
          "matter"
        ],
        [
          "settle",
          "settle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, idiomatic, usually with with) A disagreeable matter to settle with somebody."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with with"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "crow to pick"
        },
        {
          "word": "crow to pluck"
        },
        {
          "word": "crow to pull"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal",
        "usually"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "bùmǎn",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "不滿 /不满"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "yìjiàn",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "意見 /意见"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "kana kynittävänä"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "kosa"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "lang_code": "ro",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "nemulțumire"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "lang_code": "ro",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "chestiune de reproșat"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "lang_code": "ro",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "problemă de lămurit"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "lang_code": "ro",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "răfuială"
        },
        {
          "code": "sco",
          "lang": "Scots",
          "lang_code": "sco",
          "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
          "word": "craw tae pluck"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bone to pick"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "have a bone to pick"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bones to pick",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bones to pick"
      },
      "expansion": "bone to pick (plural bones to pick)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Romanian translations",
        "Terms with Scots translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              41,
              53
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1903, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 1, in Before the Dawn:",
          "text": "\"I say, Winthrop,\" he cried, \"I've got a bone to pick with you. You've been hitting me pretty hard in that rag of yours. Do you know what a public man down in the Gulf States does with an editor who attacks him?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              163,
              175
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006 October, Terry Carter, “Tort Reform Texas Style”, in ABA Journal, volume 92, number 10, pages 30–36:",
          "text": "There are a few plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions in lesser populated areas, but big-city courts had few suits that did not involve medical error and \"a legitimate bone to pick.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A disagreeable matter to settle with somebody."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "disagreeable",
          "disagreeable"
        ],
        [
          "matter",
          "matter"
        ],
        [
          "settle",
          "settle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, idiomatic, usually with with) A disagreeable matter to settle with somebody."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with with"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "crow to pick"
        },
        {
          "word": "crow to pluck"
        },
        {
          "word": "crow to pull"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "bùmǎn",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "不滿 /不满"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "yìjiàn",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "意見 /意见"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "kana kynittävänä"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "kosa"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "lang_code": "ro",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "nemulțumire"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "lang_code": "ro",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "chestiune de reproșat"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "lang_code": "ro",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "problemă de lămurit"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "lang_code": "ro",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "răfuială"
    },
    {
      "code": "sco",
      "lang": "Scots",
      "lang_code": "sco",
      "sense": "disagreeable matter to settle with somebody",
      "word": "craw tae pluck"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bone to pick"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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