Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic,of a habit, personal characteristic, etc.)Toestablishoringrainfirmly within someone's nature.1825,Sir Walter Scott, chapter 30, inThe Betrothed:"And for thy ill tongue, and worse practices, his lordship knows they arebred in the boneof thee."1852,Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 19, inUncle Tom's Cabin:"My father was a born aristocrat. I think, in some preexistent state, he must have been in the higher circles of spirits, and brought all his old court pride along with him; for it was ingrain,bred in the bone, though he was originally of poor and not in any way of noble family."1985December 8, “Books: Robertson Davies returns to a familiar, fulfilling venue”, inChicago Tribune, retrieved12 July 2011, pageI33:Davies meticulously establishes the background, thebreeding in the bone, of his hero's life.1998May 29, Chris Darke, “Film: Famiglia feelings”, inThe Independent, UK, retrieved12 July 2011:The distinctiveness of Bellocchio's approach lay in his taking mental affliction, in this case epilepsy, and figuring it as symbolic of the self-immolating rage and frustration that the dysfunctional familybreeds in the bone.2008August 13, James Graff, “Russia: In Search Of Unity”, inTime:One principle ought to bebred in the boneof any European after the carnage of the 20th century: that no act of state bears such ominous consequences as changing a border by force.
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