boneless

English

Etymology

bone + -less

Adjective

boneless (comparative more boneless, superlative most boneless)

1. Without bones, especially as pertaining to meat or poultry prepared for eating.
   • 1906, Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, Chapter 14

     The packers were always originating such schemes—they had what they called "boneless hams," which were all the odds and ends of pork stuffed into casings.

2. (chiefly UK, figuratively) Lacking strength, courage, or resolve; spineless.
   • 1916, P. G. Wodehouse, Uneasy Money, ch. 18:

     I'm scared, I'm just boneless with fright.

   • 1931, Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 13 May:

     I remember, when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit [...] which I most desired to see was the one described as "The Boneless Wonder." My parents judged that the spectacle would be too revolting and demoralizing for my youthful eyes, and I have waited fifty years to see the boneless wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench.

   • 2006, Graham Searjeant, "Loyalty pays off for M&S shareholders", The Times of London, 11 November:

     Had the Green consortium made a straight bid, boneless fund managers would easily have outvoted private investors.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.