What Does "Bones" Mean: Definition and Examples

Q: What are other ways to say Bones?

Dosh, Dough, Spondulicks, The bag

Street voices

"Bones is slang for money, used to refer to dollar bills. Example, how many bones do you have? I just counted it again. It is $100."

What it means

Bones means money, especially cash or dollar bills. If you've got bones on you, you've got some spendable paper in your pocket.

Usage examples

"How many bones do you have on you? I counted it again, it's a hundred dollars."

"I saved up enough bones over the summer to finally buy the bike I had been eyeing since spring."

"I can't come out tonight, I'm low on bones till payday."

"He dropped half his bones on sneakers and now he's acting broke."

"You got enough bones for the pizza or are we all pretending Venmo's loading?"

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Where it comes from

Old gambling slang where dice, carved from bone, stood in for the cash you wagered. The pieces became the money itself, so counting your bones is counting your cash.

Other ways to say it

Dosh Dough Spondulicks The bag

Editors of this term

Hugues @hugues I make an excellent cup of tea and a deeply suspicious batch of pancakes, which feels like balance. I’m weirdly fond of rainy walks, tiny museums, and the sort…
- Tidied the explanation so it reads natural and tied in a synonym people actually use.
Michael @michael I make a cracking cup of tea, ruin most pancakes on the first go, and still act surprised every single time. I’ve named the spider in my bathroom Gerald, we ha…
- Put their honest human voice into this expression

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Bones