Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A bone of the jaw, especially the bone of the lower jaw.
- intransitive verb To try to influence or pressure through strong persuasion, especially to urge to comply voluntarily.
- intransitive verb To urge voluntary compliance with official wishes or guidelines.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Any bone of the jaws, as a maxillary or mandibular bone; especially, a bone of the lower jaw.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The bone of either jaw; a maxilla or a mandible.
- verb To attempt to influence solely by talking, as contrasted with threatening or inducing by other means, e.g. legislation; esp. to make public appeals in order to influence the behavior of businessmen or labor leaders; -- used especially of the President or other high government officials.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
bone of the lowerjaw ; themandible . - noun Any of the bones in the lower or upper jaw.
- verb To talk
persistently inpersuasion of one or more people tocooperate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb talk idly or casually and in a friendly way
- noun the jaw in vertebrates that is hinged to open the mouth
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word jawbone.
Examples
-
He believes the find is the first jawbone from a meat-eating dinosaur ever found in Maryland.
Dinosaur jawbone found in Laurel Washington Post editors 2010
-
The membrane behind the jawbone is essentially avascular and bleeds very little, if at all, and although I have no doubt that this procedure causes some minor discomfort for the fish, keep in mind these creatures routinely eat very spiny baitfish, so they are used to puncture wounds inside the mouth.
-
She has no idea where the jawbone is or if it has been buried.
-
His skull was broken open and his jawbone was a short distance away.
The Forensics of War Junger, Sebastian 1999
-
When they have ceased to run, the bundle is opened and the bones taken out and buried, except the lower jawbone, which is preserved, sometimes along with one of the lower arm bones.
The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia James George Frazer 1897
-
Will the new administration "jawbone" the markets or introduce unexpected proposals?
-
When Bush first ran for president in 2000, he criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said the president must "jawbone" oil producing nations and persuade them to drop rates.
Have I mentioned how much I hate hypocrisy? Sinfonian 2008
-
At the GOP debate in Manchester NH on January 26, 2000, Bush said he would be the most successful at keeping oil prices low because he would "jawbone" OPEC nations to keep oil prices down.
Three Big Fibs on the Economy Ellen Beth Gill 2008
-
Maybe that's why the Saudis told Bush to jump in the sand when he asked for more oil despite Bush's 2000 election promise to "jawbone" them into lowering oil prices.
More Wall Street Profits, More Drilling, More Refineries, Less Innovation Ellen Beth Gill 2008
-
All the players are in place: silent, petulant Bush demanding not to be questioned because he's the Decider; Dick Cheney is the Enforcer, twisting senators 'arms and breathing his brimstone in their faces (any time you see "jawbone" used as a verb, you know Cheney must be in the vicinity); an appointee of the executive testifying to the need for a radical consolidation of power in one agency, a la Ashcroft 2001.
Pete Cenedella: Disaster Movie 2: If You Liked the Patriot Act, You'll Love BAILOUT! 2008
skipvia commented on the word jawbone
See also recursion.
October 13, 2007
reesetee commented on the word jawbone
Whenever I see this word, I finish it with "of an ass." Apparently it's a good weapon for doing away with Philistines.
October 13, 2007