Dictionary

throw a bone to en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

An allusion to the act of throwing a bone as food to a hungry dog.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To provide support or assistance to, especially in one particular way or to a limited extent; to make a concession to.
   • The union […] "regretted that the President thought it necessary to throw a bone to the anti-labor bloc" by saying the act would prevent strikes. 1944 January 14, “ILWU Votes for FR Plan”, in Berkeley Daily Gazette, retrieved 11 Jul 2011, page 1:
   • Can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here. What do we have? 1997, Mike Myers, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, spoken by Dr. Evil (Mike Myers):
   • Throwing a bone to the banks, it will allow a 4% increase in overseas loans next year. 1965 December 10, “U.S. Business: New Dam for the Dollar Drain”, in Time, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2012:
   • There was considerable uneasiness in the bosoms of others of the Directors. […] [T]hey knew that Lord Alfred had sold shares, and had received the profit. […] And if there was so much cause to fear Lord Alfred that it was necessary to throw him a bone, why should not they also make themselves feared? 1873 May 1 – December 22 (date written), Anthony Trollope, chapter 22, in The Way We Live Now. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published June 1875, →OCLC:
   • And he did it on the day the Senate threw a bone to President Bush's evangelical base by voting on a Constitutional amendment declaring that only a union of a man and a woman constitutes marriage. 2006 June 16, Joseph Berger, “Acknowledging the Gay Part of Gay Marriage”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • The Dallas Cowboys yesterday gave a starting job to Alexander Wright, in effect throwing him a bone. 1991 June 18, “Cowboys reward Wright with early starting position”, in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, retrieved 11 Jul 2011, page S1:

Forms

Coordinates

throw someone a rope · give someone a hand · lend a hand

Relateds

throw someone a bone · toss a bone to