He would give her a piece of bone.

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to give me a leg up with the interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

She had a right to his arm, though it was without feeling. He would give her, who was so simple, so impulsive, only twenty-four, without friends in England, who had left Italy for his sake, a piece of bone.

have a bone to pick = to have grounds for a quarrel

bone to pick = grounds for a complaint or dispute.

give someone a bone = don’t give grounds for complaint or dispute

He would give her a piece of bone. = He shouldn’t offend her. = He shouldn’t hurt her.

Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[Gillnetter]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to give me a leg up with the interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

She had a right to his arm, though it was without feeling. He would give her, who was so simple, so impulsive, only twenty-four, without friends in England, who had left Italy for his sake, a piece of bone.

have a bone to pick = to have grounds for a quarrel

bone to pick = grounds for a complaint or dispute.

give someone a bone = don’t give grounds for complaint or dispute

He would give her a piece of bone. = He shouldn’t offend her. = He shouldn’t hurt her.

Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

You're right about, "having a bone to pick", but I can't see how you got to the meaning of, " a piece of bone". To me, to give someone, "a piece of bone", means that someone gave someone else a part of a bone.

[euncu]

***neither a teacher nor a native-speaker***

I always considered it as a small cut (a share) or a small amount of payoff. An example in these senses may be something like this;

If we didn't give that dog a bone, he couldn't keep his big mouth shut.

It's similar to this quote of you;

give someone a bone = don’t give grounds for complaint or dispute

[vil]

I had let my fancy roam.

Regards.

V.

[euncu]

I had let my fancy roam.

I have no clue about what this means.

Do you say you let your imagination free or something

[vil]

Exactly.

V.

[daemon99]

I had let my fancy roam.

Even I think that expression has more to it than meets the not-so-dirty eye.

[vil]

Hi daemon99,

What about this?

“Open wide the mind’s cage-door,
She’ll dart forth, and cloudward soar.“

Or maybe you prefer to read John Keats with yours own eyes and mind that goes without saying.

631. Fancy. John Keats. The Oxford Book of English Verse

Regards,

V.