• enPR: rĭb, IPA: /ɹɪb/

rib (plural ribs)

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
   • 1882, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in Two on a Tower. A Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, […], OCLC 654408264 ↗, 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. 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. (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. Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength
6. (architecture) 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, 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
• Russian: ребро́
• Spanish: costilla, cuaderna

• Italian: nervatura
• Spanish: costilla

• Italian: nervatura

• Italian: nervatura
• Spanish: costilla

• Italian: gambo

• French: épouse, femme, moitié

rib (ribs, present participle ribbing; 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, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [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).

• Russian: дразни́ть

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) 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