ribs

Noun

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.
   • 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.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
2. (broadly) A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.
   • a broken rib on the umbrella
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

See all 21 meanings of rib