English

Alternative forms

• know in one's bones

Verb

to feel (something) in one's bones ‎(third-person singular simple present feels in one's bones, present participle feeling in one's bones, simple past and past participle felt in one's bones)

1. (idiomatic) To sense a fact or to have a strong conviction as a result of one's own practical experience, instinct, or gut feeling.
   • 1875, Louisa May Alcott, Eight Cousins, ch. 9:

     Rose felt it in her bones, as Dolly says, that something was in the wind, and wanted to be off at once.

   • 1909, Jack London, Martin Eden, ch. 45:

     "I said then we'd meet again. I felt it in my bones. An' here we are."

   • 1997 Oct. 5, David Brooks, "Books: The Wonder That Is Me," New York Times (retrieved 12 July 2011):

     Even if you are only writing a potboiler, you have to feel in your bones that it is a classic for the ages.

   • 2010 July 5, Pelin Turgut, "Turning to the East," Time:

     "I don't know what tomorrow will bring," wrote Hakan Albayrak. . . . "But I feel deep in my bones . . . that a new world is taking shape."