bib
noun
a piece of cloth, plastic, or paper that covers the chest and is often tied under the chin of a child to protect the clothing while the child is eating.
bib
1 American
[bib]
/ bɪb /
noun
-
bibs
plural
-
a piece of cloth, plastic, or paper that covers the chest and is often tied under the chin of a child to protect the clothing while the child is eating.
-
any similar cloth or part of a garment.
-
the front part of an apron, overalls, or similar protective garment above the waist.
-
Fencing. a piece of canvas attached to the base of the mask, for protecting the throat.
verb (used with or without object)
bibbed,
bibbing
idioms
bib.
2
American
abbreviation
Bib.
3
American
abbreviation
-
Bible.
-
Biblical.
bib
British
/ bɪb /
noun
-
a piece of cloth or plastic worn, esp by babies, to protect their clothes while eating
-
the upper part of some aprons, dungarees, etc, that covers the upper front part of the body
-
Also called: pout, whiting pout. a light-brown European marine gadoid food fish, Gadus (or Trisopterus ) luscus , with a barbel on its lower jaw
-
short for bibcock
-
informal to interfere
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bib1
1275–1325; Middle English bibben to drink < Latin bibere
Origin of bib.2
From the Latin word bibe
Explanation
A bib is a small piece of fabric that's tied under a baby's chin to keep food or milk from staining her clothes. If you feed a toddler without using a bib, you'll quickly learn how useful it can be. A baby's bib is just one type — there is also the bib that makes up the top part of overalls or an apron, the section that covers the chest. Sometimes the corresponding part of a bird's body, a patch of color on the chest, is also called a bib. The word stems from the now-obsolete verb bibben, "to drink," which is thought to be imitative of the sound your lips make as they sip liquid.
Vocabulary lists containing bib
Back-Words: Palindromes
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Consider the Van Cleef bib necklace, a dazzling Art Deco piece fashioned with 673 diamonds set in platinum that was commissioned in 1938 by Queen Nazli of Egypt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
But seeing her one-time protégé wearing bib No. 13 made Street very worried.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
In challenging conditions, with a lower starting gate due to poor weather and visibility, in the number six bib, Vonn was on form from start to finish.
From Barron's ● Jan. 10, 2026
But the Cobbe resembles the Wadlow picture in age and attitude: The “head-on-a-plate” effect is accentuated by an exaggerated lace bib that surrounds a smaller collar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Grampa came into the kitchen wearing his bib overalls over his pajamas.
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
“The surface is breaking a little bit. So I feel quite lucky that, for the draw, I was in a pretty good spot with my bib. I could push everywhere.”
From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
“Ham never gets old. That word is so funny to me. And bib. I’m gonna try to work that in more.”
From The Guardian ● May 25, 2015
For bib. of the original editions, see Harrisse, Notes pour Servir, etc.
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
For bib., see R. S. C., 1894, 21.
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
For biog. and bib. of his works, see Larousse, Dict.
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
Bib. s.vv. “girdle,” “sackcloth”; and M. Jastrow, Journ.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various
Atlantic Monthly Bib. d'Art de la critique Blackw.
From Henrik Ibsen A Bibliography of Criticism and Biography with an Index to Characters by Ina Ten Eyck Firkins
L Succeeds Duchesneau as intendant, 68; incapable and conceited, 186; the king's instructions to, 186, Bib.:
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
This is a reprint of an article by M. Delisle in the Bib. de l'Éc. des Chartes, xliii.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Henry Yule
Bib., ed. of 1715 and of 1744. 60.—5.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Henry Yule
We kept calling him Abs Saja, but it felt like, when the boys are on the variety show and they have their names written on the bibs, he needed a name.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2025
Former defender, and City youth team coach, Kolo Toure has also been drafted in to help out during the tournament and was assisting during the warm-up, as well as laying out bibs and balls.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2025
“The limited higher lead detections have been predominantly in our hose bibs, which serve as an external water source for outdoor watering or general water releases,” the housing authority said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2024
The participants, wearing bibs, were divided into groups at a train station and a park.
From Reuters ● Nov. 6, 2023
I can hear Mom’s voice cheering for us, and a few other people shout our names, too, because we’ve written them on our race bibs.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
We bibbed up and decided to pour the bag of seafood into the tin and use the wax paper-covered table for shells.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2022
Exaggerated high-waisted trouser silhouettes, double-breasted blazers, colourful trainers and bibbed necklines were details from this collection whose influence will be felt on the high street.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 20, 2019
The bibbed quartet of Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole at full-back, with John Terry and Gary Cahill in the centre, feels first-choice.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 1, 2012
Had royalty been expected in town, Houston could have bibbed and tuckered herself no more gaudily than she did last week.
From Time Magazine Archive
A few wore bibbed overalls made of oilcloth.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Much about "bibbing" Legionnaires, many of whom were local "jelly beans," and the Legionnaires you condemn were only a small percentage of the total number in Cleveland.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the meadows near the stream, is always to be found a group of Baalbekians bibbing arak and swaying languidly to the mellow strains of the lute and the monotonous melancholy of Arabic song.
From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani
Farm-labourers and other peasants, who combined a little poaching with their farming, and a little brawling and bibbing with their poaching, found themselves sooner or later in Mixen Lane.
From The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Inside town, dogs went mad, and folk kept bibbing beer While the parsons prayed for rain.
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Helen Archibald Clarke
The Infidels passed that night in joy and jubilee and wine bibbing; and, as soon as it was dawn, the two armies drew out with the swart of spear and the blanch of blade.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 02 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
