Carib

[kar-ib]

noun, plural Car·ibs, (especially collectively) Car·ib. for 1.

a member of a group of Indian peoples formerly dominant through the Lesser Antilles, now found in small numbers in a few areas of the West Indies and in parts of Central America and northeastern South America.

the family of languages spoken by the Caribs.

Origin of Carib

1545–55; < Spanish caribe < Arawak

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for carib

Historical Examples of carib

Morgan and Carib had taken care that no one had marked their departure.
Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
Cyrus Townsend Brady
The population was largely Carib, a savage race given to cannibalism.
Plotting in Pirate Seas
Francis Rolt-Wheeler
The Carib women in Surinam think that large calves of the leg are a beauty.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner
A Carib chief arriving with a slave, offered him for sale to the English governor.
The Western World
W.H.G. Kingston
On the banks of the Pomaroon lived a Carib family, with a number of small children.
The Western World
W.H.G. Kingston

British Dictionary definitions for carib

Carib

noun

plural -ibs or -ib a member of a group of American Indian peoples of NE South America and the Lesser Antilles

the family of languages spoken by these peoples

Derived FormsCariban, adjective

Word Origin for Carib

C16: from Spanish Caribe, from Arawak

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for carib

Carib

1550s, from Spanish Caribe, from Arawakan kalingo or kalino, said to mean "brave ones" or else "strong men." As an adjective by 1881.