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Glite Dictionary
bonemeal

bonemeal

5.1
A powder made from crushed animal bones that adds nutrients to soil
  • noun
  • /ˈboʊnˌmiːl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : harina de huesos
  • "There goes my bonemeal, seeping into the beds!" said Mae.

Examples

  • For healthy roses, sprinkle some bonemeal around the base of the plants during the growing season.

  • If we hadn't had that power outage, he would've been bonemeal.

    AstroVan (2025)

  • "Work bonemeal around the roses.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • It provided meat, oil, and even a little fat for soap and bonemeal for the garden.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Weren't they history now and thus relegated to the history heap like creatures become bonemeal, or like the vanished conquistadores, Hirohito, and hell's own Hitler himself?

    Fiction book (2000)

  • To enrich your garden soil, you should mix bonemeal into the ground before planting.

  • Adding bonemeal to the soil provides essential nutrients like phosphorus and calcium for plant growth.

How Nutrient-Rich

fertilizer
  • US
91 3.0
bonemeal
  • Specialized
5.1
manure
66 2.9
compost
39 2.5

Surface Forms

bonemeal singular
bonemeals plural

Morphology

bonemeal = bone + meal (transparent) = bone + meal

The compound is a straightforward combination of 'bone' + 'meal', meaning bones ground into a powder, which learners can deduce from the parts.

Etymology

Bonemeal is simply bone + meal, where meal means 'ground into a powder', as in cornmeal you use for cooking. So bonemeal literally means bones ground to a powder, which is why people use it to feed and enrich soil.