Southern US regional term for the furcula — the wishbone of a chicken or other bird — most commonly used in the tradition of two people each grabbing an end and pulling it apart, with the person who ends up with the larger piece supposedly granted a wish.
Southern US regional term for the furcula — the wishbone of a chicken or other bird — most commonly used in the tradition of two people each grabbing an end and pulling it apart, with the person who ends up with the larger piece supposedly granted a wish. While the standard American English term is 'wishbone,' pulley-bone is deeply ingrained in Southern speech and reflects the older, more mechanical framing of the bone's Y-shaped fork. The name comes from the pulling action rather than the wishing ritual.
Grandma always saved the pulley-bone after Sunday dinner and let the youngest grandkid choose their pulling partner.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(US, _, dialect, countable) A chicken's wishbone.
(Scotland, archaic) The wrist.
An archaic Scottish dialectal term for the wrist — the joint connecting hand and forearm. The 'shackle' component evokes the bone around which a shackle (manacle) would be fastened. Used in older Scottish medical, anatomical, and dialectal writing.
The second joint of the legbone of a chicken or other fowl, especially as an item of food.
(US) The furcula; wishbone.