Is ‘toss a bone to somebody’ a popular English idiom?

Solution 1:

Tossing a bone to someone is usually done out of pity or by someone with significantly more power over the situation. The imagery is akin to feeding someone table scraps. It isn't usually done as a reward, per se, although begging for a bone or trying to convince the powers that be that you deserve it is common.

I do agree that it is usually a token amount or something small for the person doing the tossing. It can be considered a big deal for the person on the receiving end; the main gist is that there is a disparity in control.

Throw and toss are interchangeable in the idiom. It is very popular and usually invokes imagery of dogs — thus the watchdog pun in the NYT article. In this particular case, the author wishes to compare the situations of the Watchdog and Wall Street. Even though both are in dire times, one is being fed and the other starved. A bone isn't much but it is better than nothing.

Solution 2:

Yes, it is. It means to give someone a little bit of something, as in a reward or some kind of recognition. Usually that amounts to no more than a token award.

You will hear people in the U.S. say

"Hey, throw me a bone here!"

This is said when someone is feeling slighted or has gone unrecognized for some achievement.

The derivation is from throwing a bone to a dog, as in "even a dog would get a bone" from someone.