slang. [Origin unknown: it has been conjectured to be a sense of prec., ‘to seize as a dog does a bone’; also referred to BONE a.]
trans. To take into custody, apprehend; to lay hold of; to seize and take possession of, steal.
1819. J. H. Vaux, Mem., II. 157. Tell us how you was boned, signifies, tell us the story of your apprehension.
1846. Comic Jack Giant Killer, II. i. (ed. 3), 6. For not the slightest ‘bones’ made he Of ‘boning’ people’s ‘grub.’
1879. F. Pollok, Sport Brit. Burmah, II. 22. I wounded a tusker … but the Karens … found it dead and boned the tusks.
Bone v.3 See BONING vbl. sb.2
