rattle-bones
rattle-bones
slang A person or animal that is extremely skinny, especially so that their bones are visible through their skin. They gave me this worthless old rattle-bones of a horse to ride. I didn't think it would even make it all the way to Las Cruces. I can't believe you let a skinny little rattle-bones like him beat you in a fight.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
rattlebones
n. a nickname for a very skinny person. (Also a term of address.) Hey, rattlebones, come over here a minute.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
- rattlebones
- (as) skinny as a rail
- rail
- skinny
- skinny as a beanpole
- (as) skinny as a beanpole
- beanpole
- bastardly gullion
- (as) worthless as tits on a boar (hog)
- be (as) thin as a rail