rib

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   form vertical ribs by knitting

   A ribbed sweater

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.

   a broken rib on the umbrella

4. 4
   noun

   A wife or woman.

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

5. 5
   verb

   To tease or make fun of someone in a good-natured way.

   He always gets ribbed for his outrageous shirts.

6. 6
   verb

   To enclose, as if with ribs, and protect; to shut in.

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

7. 7
   noun

   support resembling the rib of an animal

8. 8
   noun

   a projecting molding on the underside of a vault or ceiling

Etymology

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.