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cuttlebone

American  
[kuht-l-bohn] / ˈkʌt lˌboʊn /

noun

  1. the calcareous internal shell of cuttlefishes, used to make powder for polishing and fed to canaries and other pet birds to supply their diet with lime.

cuttlebone British  
/ ˈkʌtəlˌbəʊn /

noun

  1. the internal calcareous shell of the cuttlefish, used as a mineral supplement to the diet of cage-birds and as a polishing agent

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cuttlebone

First recorded in 1805–15; cuttle(fish) + bone

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.