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
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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:
Domingo arrives in the club’s lush courtyard garden sporting an olive-colored quilted Moncler padded shirt jacket over black bib Carhartt overalls and a black Valentino T-shirt, with a red neckerchief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Come the super-G and Von Allmen benefited from a low bib number as the snow softened in increasingly clement conditions, meaning later racers struggled for speed.
From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026
For instance, a pair of jewel-toned beetles she picked up made an ideal centerpiece for a regal bib necklace.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
Her picture, and even bib number, have now become symbols used to empower women, inspiring a global movement called 261 Fearless.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
This was impossible, as he toted the gangly cat with him everywhere, tucked into the bib of his overalls.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
“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 biog. and bib. of his works, see Larousse, Dict.
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 bib. of the original editions, see Harrisse, Notes pour Servir, etc.
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
Index: D His rule at Sitka, 44; his character, 44; his death, 1819, 45, Bib.:
From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various
Klaproth's materials for this edition were sold after his death Fr.200 to the bookseller Duprat; See Cat. des Livres composant la Bib. de M.K.,
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Henry Yule
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. s.vv. “girdle,” “sackcloth”; and M. Jastrow, Journ.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various
Bib., ed. of 1715 and of 1744. 60.—5.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Henry Yule
As young lads in Newport, FA Cup final day started with around 20 of us playing a game over the old dock fields, with no bibs, no goals and no referee.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
The idea is simple: have a few go-to templates for using up the bibs and bobs lurking in your kitchen, depending on your mood and what’s in the crisper.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2025
Testing of exterior hose bibs found more elevated lead levels, but after reviewing some results, the housing authority said there does not appear to be a correlation between the hose bibs and in-unit sinks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2024
Later, there is a televised evening event typically in a town square for another trophy presentation, media interviews and presenting start bibs for the next day’s race.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
She spent her days embroidering infants’ dresses, knitting woolen booties, decorating little baskets, arranging the stacks of tiny blouses, bibs, and diapers, and ironing the sheets she had embroidered.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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
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
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
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
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
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.
