bare bones
- the irreducible minimum; the most essential components: Reduce this report to its bare bones. There is nothing left of the town but the bare bones—a couple of stores, a church, and a few houses.
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Origin of bare bones
First recorded in 1910–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for barebones
Contemporary Examples
From that meeting, they generate a barebones, two-page outline.
Historical Examples
He was a prominent member of the Barebones Parliament, but after its extinction ceased to exercise any political influence.
Barebones' Parliament, a body full of stiff-backed and fanatical Independents, soon proved too restive for its creator.
A History of EnglandCharles Oman
Your Barebones, and Hop-an'-jumps, and creatures of that vulgar herd, are quite out of my category.'
Miss Elliot's GirlsMrs Mary Spring Corning
And old Father Murray is just the dearest old man ever was, and hasn't got a long, solemn face like Mr. Barebones.
The Actress' DaughterMay Agnes Fleming
Idioms and Phrases with barebones
bare bones
The mere essentials or plain, unadorned framework of something, as in This outline gives just the bare bones of the story; details will come later. This phrase transfers the naked skeleton of a body to figurative use. [c. 1900]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.