• enPR: rĭb, IPA: /ɹɪb/

From Middle English rib, ribbe, from Old English ribb, from Proto-West Germanic *ribi, from Proto-Germanic *ribją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ-.

Cognate with Dutch rib, Norwegian ribbe, Norwegian ribben, Low German ribbe, German Rippe, Old Norse rif, Serbo-Croatian rèbro.

rib (plural ribs)

1. (anatomy) 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.
   • 1882, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Two on a Tower. A Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], →OCLC ↗, page 1 ↗:

     On an early winter afternoon, clear but not cold, when the vegetable world was a weird multitude of skeletons through whose ribs the sun shone freely, a gleaming landau came to a pause on the crest of a hill in Wessex.

2. (by extension) A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.

   umbrella ribs

3. A cut of meat enclosing one or more rib bones.
4. (nautical) Any of several curved members attached to a ship's keel and extending upward and outward to form the framework of the hull.
5. (aeronautics) Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength.
6. (architectural element) A long, narrow, usually arched member projecting from the surface of a structure, especially such a member separating the webs of a vault
7. (knitting) A raised ridge in knitted material or in cloth.
8. (botany) The main, or any of the prominent veins of a leaf.
9. A teasing joke.
10. (Ireland, colloquial) A single strand of hair.
11. A stalk of celery.
12. (archaic, literary or humorous) A wife or woman.
    • 1862, George Borrow, Wild Wales:

      'Near to it was the portrait of his rib, Dame Middleton.'

• French: côte
• German: Rippe
• Italian: costola, costa
• Portuguese: costela
• Russian: ребро́
• Spanish: costilla

• German: Rippe, Strebe
• Italian: costone
• Spanish: costilla

• French: côtelette, côte
• German: Rippchen, costillar
• Italian: spuntatura, costoletta
• Portuguese: costela
• Russian: рёбрышко
• Spanish: costillar

• German: Spant
• Italian: madiere
• Portuguese: costela, caverna
• Russian: ребро́
• Spanish: costilla, cuaderna

• French: nervure
• German: Rippe
• Italian: nervatura
• Spanish: costilla

• German: Gewölberippe, Rippe
• Italian: nervatura

• Italian: nervatura
• Spanish: costilla

• German: Stängel, Stange
• Italian: gambo

• French: épouse, femme, moitié

rib (ribs, present participle ribbing; simple past and past participle ribbed)

1. To shape, support, or provide something with a rib or ribs.
2. To tease or make fun of someone in a good-natured way.

   He always gets ribbed for his outrageous shirts.

3. To enclose, as if with ribs, and protect; to shut in.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene vii]:

     It [lead] were too gross
     To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.

4. (transitive) To leave strips of undisturbed ground between the furrows in ploughing (land).

• French: charrier
• Russian: дразни́ть

From Middle English ribbe, from Old English ribbe.

rib (plural ribs)

1. (botany) Hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale).
2. (botany) Costmary (Tanacetum balsamita).
3. (botany) Watercress (Nasturtium officinale).

rib (plural ribs)

1. Acronym of w:rigid inflatable boat: a lightweight inflatable boat with a rigid hull
2. (internet) routing information base

• (boat) rigid inflatable boat
• (boat) rigid-hulled inflatable boat
• (boat) rhibbie
• (boat) ribbie
• (boat) RHIB