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
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Noun
The victim, who lives about two miles away in Arverne, was treated for pain to her ribs and neck at St. John’s Hospital.—Roni Jacobson, New York Daily News, 26 June 2025 The three-course prix fixe dinner, held outside, includes such surf and turf fare as lobster bisque, roasted prime rib, New York strip, surf and turf, lobster tails, lava cake, key lime pie and more.—Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 26 June 2025
Verb
All ribbing aside, the brother and sister get along famously.—Jae-Ha Kim, Rolling Stone, 6 June 2025 The two-way stretch fabric is water-repellent and slightly ribbed, with a lightweight feel that’s perfect for summer (or sweating in a dance studio, presumably).—Louryn Strampe, Wired News, 30 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for rib
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
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
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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