a bone of contention

Meaning: A topic of dispute.

Language: English

Literally: (Already vivid in English)

Category: Body & Senses

Origin: The expression suggests a bone thrown between two dogs that would naturally fight over it.

More idioms — Body & Senses

a bone to pick — A dispute.
burn one's bridges — To take a course of action that makes it impossible to go back.
by word of mouth — The informal, verbal passing of information from one person to another.
catch someone's eye — To attract someone's visual attention.
change of heart — A reversal of attitude.
cold feet — Too scared to do something.

cut off one's nose to spite one's face — To injure oneself in the process of seeking revenge or attempting to punish someone.
do an about-face — To change one's behavior or mind abruptly and (often) apparently without reason.
down in the mouth — Unhappy.
eat one's heart out — To suffer silently in a hopeless situation.
eat out of someone's hand — To be submissive; to have someone eating out of one's hand means to get someone to be sub…
fight tooth and nail — To fight fiercely; to fight with everything you have.

Loading the full interactive collection…