jawbone

noun

1. (countable)The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible.
2. (countable)Any of the bones in the lower or upper jaw.
3. (countable, plural, singular)A shaken musical instrument (an idiophone) made from the jawbone of an animal and shaken such that the teeth vibrate in their sockets to produce sound.
4. (archaic, slang, uncountable)Credit.

   “We have a few persons whose pockets are to let—men who have more complaints than dollars—individuals who, in digger's parlance, live on jawbone (credit), and are always to be found at saloons; a class of men who, when they are here, wish themselves yonder, and when yonder, wish themselves back.”

verb

1. (ambitransitive)To talk persistently in an attempt to persuade somebody to cooperate.

   ““We got a winner. He stole her glasses and she couldn't see. Boring.” (crowd jeering) “Give me my glasses back.” “I'm gonna give your glasses to your master.” “Lot of jawboning going on.” “Okay? Here you go. It was nice meeting you, okay?” “...a little less hot air, but I present to you our new familiar champion, this guy right here. Never caught his name, never caught his name.””

2. (transitive)(especially of regulatory agencies) To try to persuade (someone) through implied threats of punitive action, such as tighter regulatory control.