rib

Meaning

1. 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.
2. A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.
3. A cut of meat enclosing one or more rib bones.
4. Any of several curved members attached to a ship's keel and extending upward and outward to form the framework of the hull.
5. Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength.
6. A long, narrow, usually arched member projecting from the surface of a structure, especially such a member separating the webs of a vault
7. A raised ridge in knitted material or in cloth.
8. The main, or any of the prominent veins of a leaf.
9. A teasing joke.
10. (colloquial) A single strand of hair.
11. A stalk of celery.
12. A wife or woman.

ribs

rib bone

make fun

jest at

side of the body

wing rib

trimming knife

costae rib

os costale

pull someone’s leg

rachis

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹɪb/

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.