make (one's) bones

1. To kill someone in order to obtain membership in a criminal organization. Used in this way, the phrase is often associated with the Mafia. A: "Has Johnny Dukes made his bones yet?" B: "Not yet, he's still a low level guy."

2. To solidify one's reputation. He made his bones as a big city detective before joining our town's police force.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
TonĆI	-	Croatian
ThÉO	te-O	French
Janina	yah-NEE-nah (Polish, German), YAH-nee-nah (Finnish)	Polish, Finnish, German, Swedish, Lithuanian
Surya	SOOR-yah (Indonesian)	Hinduism, Indian, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Indonesian
Mcknight	[mək'nait]
Eka (2)	-	Georgian