Wishbone
noun
The V-shaped bone in the chest of a bird that you make a wish on.
After Thanksgiving dinner, my siblings and I always fight over who gets to break the wishbone.
Often appears as...
- breaking a wishbone
- turkey wishbone
noun
A structure similar to a wishbone used in various machinery or tools.
The wishbone suspension in the car helps to maintain stability while driving.
Often appears as...
- wishbone suspension
- wishbone structure
Usage tips
Technical
noun
The V-shaped bone in the chest of a bird that you make a wish on.
After Thanksgiving dinner, my siblings and I always fight over who gets to break the wishbone.
Often appears as...
- breaking a wishbone
- turkey wishbone
noun
A structure similar to a wishbone used in various machinery or tools.
The wishbone suspension in the car helps to maintain stability while driving.
Often appears as...
- wishbone suspension
- wishbone structure
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Holiday Tradition
The wishbone is often associated with holiday traditions, especially Thanksgiving in the United States.
The kids look forward to the wishbone tradition every Thanksgiving.
Pro Tip 2/3Good Luck
Pulling apart a wishbone is seen as a way to bring good luck, where the person with the larger piece makes a wish.
Tom and Sarah each held one end of the wishbone, hoping for good luck.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Symbol
While mostly known in the US, the wishbone can symbolize luck and wish-making in other cultures too.
In our family, we have a tradition similar to the wishbone for Lunar New Year.
Pro Tip 1/3Holiday Tradition
The wishbone is often associated with holiday traditions, especially Thanksgiving in the United States.
The kids look forward to the wishbone tradition every Thanksgiving.
Pro Tip 2/3Good Luck
Pulling apart a wishbone is seen as a way to bring good luck, where the person with the larger piece makes a wish.
Tom and Sarah each held one end of the wishbone, hoping for good luck.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Symbol
While mostly known in the US, the wishbone can symbolize luck and wish-making in other cultures too.
In our family, we have a tradition similar to the wishbone for Lunar New Year.
Pro Tip 1/3Holiday Tradition
The wishbone is often associated with holiday traditions, especially Thanksgiving in the United States.
The kids look forward to the wishbone tradition every Thanksgiving.
Pro Tip 2/3Good Luck
Pulling apart a wishbone is seen as a way to bring good luck, where the person with the larger piece makes a wish.
Tom and Sarah each held one end of the wishbone, hoping for good luck.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Symbol
While mostly known in the US, the wishbone can symbolize luck and wish-making in other cultures too.
In our family, we have a tradition similar to the wishbone for Lunar New Year.
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Video examples
Arthur Ganson: Moving...
When I see objects, I imagine them in motion. I imagine what can be said with them. This next one here, "Machine with Wishbone," it came about from playing with this wishbone after dinner. You know, they say, never play with your food -- but I always play with things. So, I had this wishbone, and I thought,
Video examples
Why Now is the Golden...
he came up with a hypothesis that birds descended from small bipedal dinosaurs. But other scientists opposed this idea because they said, well, you know, all birds have a wishbone, right? This is not known in any dinosaurs. So birds can't be living dinosaurs.
Video examples
Arthur Ganson: Moving...
When I see objects, I imagine them in motion. I imagine what can be said with them. This next one here, "Machine with Wishbone," it came about from playing with this wishbone after dinner. You know, they say, never play with your food -- but I always play with things. So, I had this wishbone, and I thought,
Video examples
Why Now is the Golden...
he came up with a hypothesis that birds descended from small bipedal dinosaurs. But other scientists opposed this idea because they said, well, you know, all birds have a wishbone, right? This is not known in any dinosaurs. So birds can't be living dinosaurs.
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Alice Oswald
British Poet
One night, I lay awake for hours, just terrified. When the dawn finally came up - the comfortable blue sky, the familiar world returning - I could think of no other way to express my relief than through poetry. I made a decision there and then that it was what I wanted to do. Every time I pulled a wishbone, it was what I asked for.
Quote examples
Nina Turner
American Politician
Although she was not a politician, my grandmother gave me the most important lesson I've ever received and one I carry with me today. That all you need to be successful in life is three things: your wishbone to dream big, your jawbone to speak the truth, and your backbone to persevere through it all.
Quote examples
Pippa Middleton
British Celebrity
Why not collect and clean chicken wishbones in the run-up to Christmas, spray them silver and use each to pinch together a white hem-stitch napkin?
Quote examples
William J. H. Boetcker
American Clergyman
The individual activity of one man with backbone will do more than a thousand men with a mere wishbone.
Quote examples
Robert Frost
American Poet
A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone.
Quote examples
Reba McEntire
American Musician
To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.
Quote examples
Clementine Paddleford
American Journalist
Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where you backbone ought to be.
Quote examples
Alice Oswald
British Poet
One night, I lay awake for hours, just terrified. When the dawn finally came up - the comfortable blue sky, the familiar world returning - I could think of no other way to express my relief than through poetry. I made a decision there and then that it was what I wanted to do. Every time I pulled a wishbone, it was what I asked for.
Quote examples
Nina Turner
American Politician
Although she was not a politician, my grandmother gave me the most important lesson I've ever received and one I carry with me today. That all you need to be successful in life is three things: your wishbone to dream big, your jawbone to speak the truth, and your backbone to persevere through it all.
Quote examples
Pippa Middleton
British Celebrity
Why not collect and clean chicken wishbones in the run-up to Christmas, spray them silver and use each to pinch together a white hem-stitch napkin?
Quote examples
William J. H. Boetcker
American Clergyman
The individual activity of one man with backbone will do more than a thousand men with a mere wishbone.
Quote examples
Robert Frost
American Poet
A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body - the wishbone.
Quote examples
Reba McEntire
American Musician
To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.
Quote examples
Clementine Paddleford
American Journalist
Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where you backbone ought to be.
Example 1 of 7
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