rib

To shape, support, or provide something with a rib or ribs.

Noun anatomy, medicine

  1. 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.
    • 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. A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.
    • a broken rib on the umbrella
  3. A cut of meat enclosing one or more rib bones.
  4. Any of several curved members attached to a ship's keel and extending upward and outward to form the framework of the hull.
  5. Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength.
  6. A long, narrow, usually arched member projecting from the surface of a structure, especially such a member separating the webs of a vault
  7. A strip of metal running along the top of the barrel that serves as a sighting plane.
  8. A raised ridge in knitted material or in cloth.
  9. The main, or any of the prominent veins of a leaf.
  10. A teasing joke.
  11. A single strand of hair.
  12. A stalk of celery.

Origin

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.

Forms

ribs

Derived

abdominal rib baby back rib baldrib beef rib chuck rib Dogrib false rib floating rib flying rib forerib lierne rib middle rib midrib prime rib ribband ribbed vault ribber ribbie ribby rib-cage ribcage ribectomy rib eye rib-eye

Noun biology, botany

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

Origin

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

Forms

ribs

Verb

  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.
    • Mr. Musk, who wore a suit and tie to Thursday’s meeting instead of his usual T-shirt after Mr. Trump publicly ribbed him about his sloppy appearance, defended himself by saying that he had three companies with a market...
  3. To enclose, as if with ribs, and protect; to shut in.
    • It [lead] were too gross To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
  4. To leave strips of undisturbed ground between the furrows in ploughing (land).

Forms

ribs ribbing ribbed