Noun (2)
the movie is a rib of the "dramatic love story" that was so popular in the 1950s
began to lose his sense of humor after being the butt of his friends' ribs once too often Verb (2)ribbed him a bit about fumbling such an easy play
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
But there have been people who have incurred major medical consequences, including one person who fell down while intoxicated and suffered a brain bleed and another who broke her ribs and nose.—Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 11 June 2024 Advertisement Bonus fact: In rare cases regardless of gender, a person might have a 13th pair of ribs, similar to our evolutionary cousins.—San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 June 2024 Powell loves the Texas Longhorns, bro, and has been known to put back 40 ribs at the Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, Texas.—Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 7 June 2024 Keep your ribs down, without arching your back, with your chin tucked.—Dominique Fluker, Essence, 23 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for rib
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rib.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English, from Old English ribb; akin to Old High German rippi rib, Old Church Slavonic rebro, and probably to Greek erephein to roof over
Verb (2) and Noun (2)
probably from rib entry 1; from the tickling of the ribs to cause laughter
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
: one of the series of curved bones of the chest of most vertebrates that are joined to the spinal column in pairs and help to support the body wall and protect the organs inside
b
: a cut of meat including a rib
2
: something (as a piece of wire supporting the fabric of an umbrella) resembling a rib
3
a
: a major vein of an insect's wing or of a leaf
b
: one of the parallel ridges in a knitted or woven fabric
: any of the paired curved bony or partly cartilaginous rods that stiffen the lateral walls of the body of most vertebrates and protect the viscera, that occur in mammals exclusively or almost exclusively in the thoracic region, and that in humans normally include 12 pairs of which all are articulated with the spinal column at the dorsal end and the first 10 are connected also at the ventral end with the sternum by costal cartilages see false rib, floating rib, true rib
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