English

Alternative forms

• rickle of banes
• rickle o' bones
• rickle of bones

Noun

rickle o' banes ‎(plural rickles o' banes)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly Scotland) An emaciated person or animal.
   • 1876, John Mactaggart, The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, Hamilton, Adams and Co. (1876), page 46:

     To behold him, mounted on his old shelty, was truly a laughable scene, the animal being always so lean — a perfect "rickle o' banes," […]

Synonyms

• bag of bones

Scots

Noun

rickle o' banes ‎(plural rickles o' banes)

1. (idiomatic) rickle o' banes
   • 1896, Maggie Swan, For the Sake o' the Siller, Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier (1896), page 66:

     "Guid sake! lassie, what an airm ye hev, deed ye're jist a rickle o' banes a' the gither, they haena gien ye yer meat doon at Balhelvie; aye, I kent brawly what it would be."

Quotations

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:rickle o' banes.