单词 | bone-throwing |
释义 | bone-throwingn. 1. The action or an act of throwing a bone or bones; esp. the practice (engaged in by the Norse, according to some medieval sources) of throwing bones at the end of meals. ΚΠ 1858 Daily Cleveland (Ohio) Herald 15 Dec. No sooner had they gone than the bone-throwing had recommenced. 1862 J. Thrupp Anglo-Saxon Home xvi. 395 This system of bone-throwing, though very common, was not always taken in good part. 1927 E. V. Gordon Introd. Old Norse 185 The Danish practice of bone-throwing is heard of in actual history. 1997 Sunday Times (Nexis) 2 Nov. A spot of bone-throwing for the new labrador puppy. 2002 E. Christiansen Norsemen in Viking Age (2006) vi. 145 Retainers of the lord proved their virilities by bullying, mockery, goading and bone-throwing. 2. Chiefly with reference to southern Africa: the action or practice of using bones in divination by studying the pattern they form when thrown on to the ground or another surface (cf. to throw the bones at bone n.1 Phrases 1l). Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > divination from bones > [adjective] bone-throwing1889 bone-throwing1919 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > divination from bones > [noun] > by throwing bones bone-throwing1889 1889 Amer. Antiquarian 11 104 The bone throwing is not consulted till after the ‘nyanga’ has become tolerably acquainted with the facts in the case. 1904 Proc. Musical Assoc. 30th Sess. 96 Mr. Epstein..said the Pungwee was used by witch doctors during their bone-throwing. 1972 Financial Times 13 Sept. 36/1 It is..not a puzzle that can be solved by the bone-throwing of the economic witchdoctors. 1989 Statist. Sci. 4 242/1 Tibet where you have the first inklings of bone throwing. 2000 Sunday Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 3 Dec. 6 Here, kraal residents continue age-old methods of spear, shield and clay pot making, basket weaving, bead work and sangoma bone-throwing. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021). bone-throwingadj. Of a person: that throws bones; spec. that practises divination by means of bones. Cf. bone-throwing n. 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > divination from bones > [adjective] bone-throwing1889 bone-throwing1919 1919 Rhodesia Agric. Jrnl. 16 551 The bone-throwing witch-doctors are still active factors in the land. 1931 J. Mockford Khama xxxiii. 236 First he had found it necessary to fight with his bone-throwing father. 1989 Times Reporter (Dover, Ohio) 6 Nov. b4/2 Delighting the bone-throwing, orange-painted, banner-waving fans. 2003 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 28 Sept. 3 South Africa's medical system boasts modern hospitals and pharmacies, but it coexists with bone-throwing healers whose prescriptions sometimes include the most grisly of curatives. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.1858adj.1919 |
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