Main Entry:

¹rib

Pronunciation:

\ˈrib\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Old English ribb; akin to Old High German rippi rib, Old Church Slavic rebro, and probably to Greek erephein to roof over

Date:

before 12th century

1 a: any of the paired curved bony or partly cartilaginous rods that stiffen the walls of the body of most vertebrates and protect the viscera b (1): a cut of meat including a rib — see beef illustration (2): a boneless cut of meat (as beef or pork) from a rib section c [from the account of Eve's creation from Adam's rib in Genesis 2:21–22] : wife2: something resembling a rib in shape or function: as a (1): a traverse member of the frame of a ship that runs from keel to deck (2): a light fore-and-aft member in an airplane's wing b: one of the stiff strips supporting an umbrella's fabric c: one of the arches in Romanesque and Gothic vaulting meeting and crossing one another and dividing the whole vaulted space into triangles 3: an elongated ridge: as a (1): a vein of an insect's wing (2): one of the primary veins of a leaf b: one of the ridges in a knitted or woven fabric

[rib illustration]