Other forms: ribs
A rib is one of the curved bones that make a cage around your chest. Twelve pairs, protecting the heart and lungs.
Cooking uses the word for the meat on them, so ribs, spare ribs and a rib of beef are all cuts. Boats and umbrellas have ribs too, meaning the curved supports that hold the shape, and so do vaulted ceilings. Knitting has a rib stitch that makes raised lines. There is an informal verb meaning to tease somebody gently, and ribbing is that kind of joking.
1nounribOne of the curved bones enclosing the chest.
“He cracked a rib falling off the ladder.”
2nounsupportingA curved supporting piece in a structure.
“One of the umbrella's ribs had snapped.”
Also accepted in games: ribs
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁rebʰ- — arch, ceiling, cover
Proto-Germanic
*ribją — rib, reef
Proto-West Germanic
*ribi
Old English
ribb — rib
Middle English
rib
English, today
rib
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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA