bag of bones

bag of bones

1. A person or animal that is emaciated to the point that bones can be seen protruding from the skin. The old, abandoned dog looked like a bag of bones after living on the streets for so long. Poor Dave, he looked like a bag of bones when he was done with his cancer treatment.
2. A disparaging term for a very old person, especially one who has a frail appearance. That old bag of bones shook her fist at me for walking on her lawn again!
See also: bag, bone, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bag of bones

an extremely skinny person or animal with bones showing. (The skin is the figurative bag.) I've lost so much weight that I'm just turning into a bag of bones. Get that old bag of bones off the racetrack!
See also: bag, bone, of
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

a bag of bones

If you describe someone as a bag of bones, you mean that they are extremely thin. Physically, she seemed lighter suddenly — a bag of bones in his arms.
See also: bag, bone, of
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a bag of bones

an emaciated person or animal. Compare with be skin and bone at skin.
See also: bag, bone, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

a ˌbag of ˈbones

(informal) a very thin person or animal: She refused to eat until eventually she was a bag of bones.
See also: bag, bone, of
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a bag of bones
  • make no bones about it, to
  • to (one's) bones
  • to your bones
  • rattlebones
  • rattle-bones
  • skin and bones
  • (all) skin and bones
  • nothing but skin and bones and skin and bones
  • nothing but skin and bones
References in periodicals archive
Cleo was a 'bag of bones', but is now fit and well, right
Caring cops nurse 'bag of bones' Cleo back to health
today we have a bag of bones discarded here on the side of a motorway.
Hunt for killer begins after 13 years of pain
Hot off the heels of a Spanish tour with Def Leppard and Whitesnake, Europe have made a remarkable comeback with their last four studio albums, most notably Bag Of Bones which was hailed the 16th best rock album of 2012 by Classic Rock magazine.
Top bands get ready to rock region; A trio of stalwart rock bands are heading to the region. RUTH LAWSON reports
Eryk Pelka described the pair of child-killers as 'inhuman' for inflicting six months of neglect and abuse which left Daniel looking like a "bag of bones."
Murdered Boy Daniel Pelka's Dad Wants Killers 'to Suffer Same Fate he Did'
Stephen King's Bag of Bones (Five, 9.15pm) This adaptation, with Pierce Brosnan, and Hunted star Melissa George is set in Maine, and centres on troubled novelist, Mike Noonan, a writer overcome with grief by his wife's death who befriends a young widow.
WHAT TO WATCH
Stephen King's Bag of Bones Channel 5, 9.15pm Former 007 Pierce Brosnan and Hunted star Melissa George join forces for this version of Stephen King's chilling pageturner.
TV Choices; December 29th
Bag Of Bones is the band's fourth album since reforming more than a decade ago and it's only now that long overdue credibility and critical acclaim is coming their way.
The 80s rockers who are now singing the blues; There's more to Europe than meets the eye in 2012. SIMON RUSHWORTH caught up with singer Joey Tempest to find out why
Featuring some old favourites and new tracks from their recent album Bag of Bones.
7 NIGHTS; Why stay in? Here's our tips for the week
Adele, who chose them to support her on her US and UK dates, describes them as "by far the best live band I have ever seen." EUROPE, still seeking that follow-up hit to The Final Countdown, release new album Bag Of Bones on April 30.
One Direction announce extra date at Arena; Adele support jetting into UK
Teesside Coroner's Court heard John Bashford, a fellow resident at the hostel and his partner and chef at the hostel Lisa Robinson from The Vale, Grove Hill, describe how Mr West smoked and drank cider to excess, while eating little or no food, leaving him like "a bag of bones."
Tragedy of alcoholic who died at hostel
So the rescue team can work out what time your fragile bag of bones imploded, of course.
gadgets and gizmos
Speaking at Bath Police Station Mr Hall, 65, an ex-chairman of football club Bath City, said he needed know how his "vibrant" daughter became a "bag of bones".
Parents plead for information
A workman found a bag of bones as he was clearing vegetation on the M5 slip road at junction 14, north of Bristol, on Monday.
Sliproad bones 'of missing woman'
I was looking at pictures of her and she looks like a bag of bones. Her legs are like two twigs.
Katie Green calls Jourdan Dunn 'a poster girl for anorexia'
I will have done all this and much more in order to deliver to you, dear reader, the essence, the core, the man behind the man behind the curtain, the shriveled little homunculus piloting with mischievous glee screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's fat, balding, shamefully inadequate body--that bad marionette, that leaking bag of bones and flesh who once wrote something hailed as "startlingly original" (1999's Being John Malkovich) but whose cremaster has apparently reeled his creative balls so far into his body cavity that he is, pre sently, choking on them.
Survival of the fattest: Andrew Hultkrans on Adaptation. (Film)