rib

• enPR: rĭb, IPA^(key): /ɹɪb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪb

ribs (1) forming a human rib cage

smoked ribs (3)

ribs (5) of an aircraft wing

rib vault (6)

From Middle English rib, ribbe, from Old English ribb (“rib”), from Proto-West Germanic *ribi, from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- (“arch, ceiling, cover”).

Cognate with Dutch rib (“rib”), Norwegian ribbe (“sparerib”), Norwegian ribben (“rib”), Low German ribbe (“rib”), German Rippe (“rib”), Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), Serbo-Croatian rèbro (“rib”).

(wife or woman): In reference to the creation of Eve from Adam's rib in the Bible.

rib (plural ribs)

1. (anatomy) Any of a series of long curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and other animals and extending from the spine to or toward the sternum.
   • 1882, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Two on a Tower. A Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 1:

     On an early winter afternoon, clear but not cold, when the vegetable world was a weird multitude of skeletons through whose ribs the sun shone freely, a gleaming landau came to a pause on the crest of a hill in Wessex.

2. (by extension) A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.

   umbrella ribs

3. A cut of meat enclosing one or more rib bones.
4. (nautical) Any of several curved members attached to a ship's keel and extending upward and outward to form the framework of the hull.
5. (aeronautics) Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength.
6. (architecture) A long, narrow, usually arched member projecting from the surface of a structure, especially such a member separating the webs of a vault
7. (knitting) A raised ridge in knitted material or in cloth.
8. (botany) The main, or any of the prominent veins of a leaf.
9. A teasing joke.
10. (Ireland, colloquial) A single strand of hair.
11. A stalk of celery.
12. (archaic, literary or humorous) A wife or woman.
    • 1862, George Borrow, Wild Wales:

      'Near to it was the portrait of his rib, Dame Middleton.'

rib (third-person singular simple present ribs, present participle ribbing, simple past and past participle ribbed)

1. To shape, support, or provide something with a rib or ribs.
2. To tease or make fun of someone in a good-natured way.

   He always gets ribbed for his outrageous shirts.

3. To enclose, as if with ribs, and protect; to shut in.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:

     It [lead] were too gross
     To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.

4. (transitive) To leave strips of undisturbed ground between the furrows in ploughing (land).

From Middle English ribbe, from Old English ribbe (“hound's-tongue”).

rib (plural ribs)

1. (botany) Hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale).
2. (botany) Costmary (Tanacetum balsamita).
3. (botany) Watercress (Nasturtium officinale).

• rib on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• BIR, BRI, Bri, IBR, IRB, RBI

From Dutch rib, from Middle Dutch ribbe, from Old Dutch *ribba, from Proto-Germanic *ribją.

• Hyphenation: rib

rib (plural ribbe, diminutive ribbetjie)

1. (anatomy) rib

From Middle Dutch ribbe, from Old Dutch *ribba, from Proto-Germanic *ribją.

• IPA^(key): /rɪp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rib
• Rhymes: -ɪp

rib m (plural ribben, diminutive ribje n)

1. rib

   Je kunt haar ribben tellen. ― You can count her ribs.

   Dat is een rib uit mijn lijf. ― That's a rib from my body.

2. a truss (wooden frame)

• ribbenkast
• ribstuk
• scheepsrib

• Afrikaans: rib
• Berbice Creole Dutch: rebu
• Negerhollands: rippe, reppe, ribi
• → Papiamentu: repchi, ribtsje (from the diminutive)

From ribe (“hair, blade, tape”).

rib (past rib, future ribidh, verbal noun ribeadh, past participle ribte)

1. trap, ensnare

• ribe

rib

1. genitive dual/plural of riba

rib

1. very

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /ɣip˧/
• Tone numbers: rib⁸
• Hyphenation: rib

From Proto-Tai *C̬.lepᴰ (“fingernail; toenail”). Cognate with Thai เล็บ (lép), Lao ເລັບ (lep), Shan ၼဵပ်ႉ (nâ̰ep), Ahom 𑜎𑜢𑜆𑜫 (lip), Saek หลี้บ.

rib (Sawndip forms 𭻎 or 𭶫, 1957–1982 spelling rib)

1. nail (on fingers and toes)

   Synonym: (dialectal) gyaep

2. claw; talon

   Synonym: nyauj

3. hoof

   Synonym: ve

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

rib (1957–1982 spelling rib)

1. to clean up; to tidy up
2. to confiscate