make (one’s) bones
v.— «Business, for Puzo’s characters, is almost everything. Vito Corleone “made his bones” (first killing) in cold blood for dollars.» —“Persuasive Picture of Crime’s World” by Geoffrey Wolff Washington Post-Times Herald Mar. 8, 1969. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through the dictionary and...
How do dictionaries define colors? And why are some of those definitions so confusing, like “stronger than carmine” and “bluer than fiesta”? Dictionary editor Kory Stamper explains it all in her new book. Plus, the story behind the expression more...
This citation was previously misattributed to the New York Times but was corrected on July 5, 2017. Thanks to Merrill Perlman for the correction.