jawbone v.
1. to persuade someone into extending credit, to sell or buy on credit; note use as nickname in cit. 1906.
Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 61: One fellow – ‘Jawbone’ Dan, so called because he always tries to do all his business on credit – has but a single spur. | ||
Lingo of No Man’s Land 48: JAWBONE A new verb meaning to obtain credit, as, ‘I have jawboned Yank out of five dollars’. | ||
Sentinel 4 Feb. 16: I jaw-boned two packages of New Yorks and smoked them all. | ||
Army and Navy Register (US) 18 Nov. 3/2: ‘Jawbone,’ the equivalent of the civilian’s ‘put it on the cuff’. | ||
(con. 1918) Soldier Bill 96: When the Americans bought anything from the French it was always for cash and when the French bought anything from the Americans, it was army ‘jawbone’. |
2. to talk, to chatter.
Ringolevio 105: The guy [...] was going to [...] jawbone with his cronies. | ||
Judas Tree (1983) 51: Wish I had more time to jawbone. | ||
Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 182: He’d stop and jawbone with a group of guys hanging out near the canteen. |
3. (US) to (attempt to) persuade, esp. in politics.
Time 19 Sept. 32: Feather has been jawboning his union chiefs on the virtues of labor discipline on the shop floor. | ||
Case for Trump 82: Trump had reverted back to John F. Kennedy-style jawboning and hectoring of private corporations. |