Meaning
The domino tiles — 'the bones', slapped down hard on the table in dominoes, the beloved national pastime played in every rum bar, yard, and street corner. 'Shuffle di bones' means mix the tiles, and 'slam di bone' is the triumphant, table-rattling finishing move that ends the game. (The name recalls the days when dominoes were literally made of bone or ivory.) The word belongs to the whole loud, fiercely competitive world of Jamaican dominoes, where the crack of a slammed bone is a sound of victory.
Examples
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Shuffle di bones an deal dem out.
Shuffle the dominoes and deal them out.
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Him slam di last bone pon di table.
He slammed the last domino on the table.
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Di man dem play bones every evening.
The men play dominoes every evening.
Origin
'Bones' for dominoes, from their historical bone/ivory make; a fixture of the domino table. See [[dominoes]].
How it’s used
The domino tiles. See [[dominoes]]. 'Slam di bone' = the winning slap-down.