ridgebone

See also: ridge-bone

English

Alternative forms

• ridge-bone

Etymology

From Middle English rygge-bone, rigbone, from Old English hryċġbān (“backbone; spine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hruggjabain, from Proto-Germanic *hrugjabainą (“backbone”); equivalent to ridge (“the back”) +‎ bone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪd͡ʒbəʊn/

Noun

ridgebone (plural ridgebones)

1. (anatomy, rare, also figuratively) The backbone or spine.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXII.] Chapter XXI.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC:

     [T]he corrupt blood […] lying cluttered about the ridge-bone.

   • 1815, G. LLOYD (Riding Master, and SYMES (R.)), R. SYMES, The Improved Art of Riding, Etc:

     Let your body be erect and straight, your ridgebone answering to that of the horse; so that his body and your's may appear but as one piece of mechanism.

   • 2005, Brock Brower, Nancy Lawton, Blue Dog, Green River:

     And running zigzag down its back, you can see its squiggly ridgebone taking all the meanders you can see right down below. "That ridgebone is the river, I swear. Rising sun hits it dead the same way, only earlier, over the plateau.

   • 2013, Steve Vera, Drynn:

     […] ; a Drynnian ridgebone was made for combat, hunting, and tunneling rock. It was also a very good shield and with it, he parried the blow meant for his head.

   • 2015, Adele DeGirolamo, Stolen Child - In-Between: Book Two:

     “Voila, my little angry one,” Markus spoke, looking at the foreign piece of junk that had been yanked free without any further struggle, straight out of the ridgebone of his back.

References

• “ridgebone”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Big Red One, biogender