crib

[krib]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR crib ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a child's bed with enclosed sides.

a stall or pen for cattle.

a rack or manger for fodder, as in a stable or barn.

a bin for storing grain, salt, etc.

Informal.

a translation, list of correct answers, or other illicit aid used by students while reciting, taking exams, or the like; pony.
plagiarism.
a petty theft.

a room, closet, etc., in a factory or the like, in which tools are kept and issued to workers.

a shallow, separate section of a bathing area, reserved for small children.

any confined space.

Slang. a house, shop, etc., frequented by thieves or regarded by thieves as a likely place for burglarizing.

Building Trades, Civil Engineering. any of various cellular frameworks of logs, squared timbers, or steel or concrete objects of similar form assembled in layers at right angles, often filled with earth and stones and used in the construction of foundations, dams, retaining walls, etc.

a barrier projecting part of the way into a river and then upward, acting to reduce the flow of water and as a storage place for logs being floated downstream.

a lining for a well or other shaft.

Slang. one's home; pad.

Cribbage. a set of cards made up by equal contributions from each player's hand, and belonging to the dealer.

a cheap, ill-kept brothel.

a wicker basket.

British, Australian. lunch, especially a cold lunch carried from home to work and eaten by a laborer on the job; snack.

verb (used with object), cribbed, crib·bing.

Informal. to pilfer or steal, especially to plagiarize (another's writings or ideas).

to confine in or as if in a crib.

to provide with a crib or cribs.

to line with timber or planking.

verb (used without object), cribbed, crib·bing.

Informal.

to use a crib in examinations, homework, translating, etc.
to steal; plagiarize.

(of a horse) to practice cribbing.

Origin of crib

before 1000; Middle English cribbe, Old English crib(b); cognate with Dutch krib, German Krippe; cf. crèche

Related formsun·crib, verb (used with object), un·cribbed, un·crib·bing.

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

Related Words for crib

bunk, cot, rack, bin, box, bassinet, manger, cradle, stall

Examples from the Web for crib

Contemporary Examples of crib

After lunch, I put Julia in her crib for a nap, and though she struggled, the excitement of the day took her under.
When An Adopted Child Won’t Attach
Tina Traster
May 2, 2014
My chest pressed into the foot of the crib, arms outstretched through bars, I wailed at an open door to an empty staircase.
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’
Eileen Cronin
April 8, 2014
Sally was a year younger than me but she had a real bed, and I still had a crib.
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’
Eileen Cronin
April 8, 2014
Did Geert Wilders, the famously xenophobic Dutch politician, crib from the Nazis for his latest anti-immigrant tirade?
Dutch Xenophobe Geert Wilders Echoes Goebbels’ Infamous 1943 Speech
Nadette De Visser
March 21, 2014
Lynch, ever the spirited mind in flight, never had to crib much from infatuations of college boys.
‘True Detective,’ Obsessive-Compulsive Noir, and ‘Twin Peaks’
Jimmy So
March 14, 2014

Historical Examples of crib

She started forward, but Martin stepped between herself and the crib.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
How'd you like to be lyin' helpless in a crib with a big rat gnawin' your ear?
A Little Book of Profitable Tales
Eugene Field
"A crib that will soon house more than corn," said the sergeant.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
The farmer might come out at any time to his crib, and they felt that they must be up and away.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
For their construing I have been given what schoolboys call a crib.
Another Sheaf
John Galsworthy

British Dictionary definitions for crib

crib

noun

a child's bed with slatted wooden sides; cot

a cattle stall or pen

a fodder rack or manger

a bin or granary for storing grain, etc

a small crude cottage or room

US informal a house or residence

NZ a weekend cottage: term is South Island usage only

any small confined space

informal a brothel

a wicker basket

a representation of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid at birth

informal a theft, esp of another's writing or thoughts

Also called (esp US): pony informal, mainly British a translation of a foreign text or a list of answers used by students, often illicitly, as an aid in lessons, examinations, etc

short for cribbage

cribbage the discard pile

Also called: cribwork a framework of heavy timbers laid in layers at right angles to one another, used in the construction of foundations, mines, etc

a storage area for floating logs contained by booms

Australian and NZ a packed lunch taken to work

verb cribs, cribbing or cribbed

(tr) to put or enclose in or as if in a crib; furnish with a crib

(tr) informal to steal (another's writings or thoughts)

(intr) informal to copy either from a crib or from someone else during a lesson or examination

(tr) to line (a construction hole) with timber beams, logs, or planks

(intr) informal to grumble

Derived Formscribber, noun

Word Origin for crib

Old English cribb; related to Old Saxon kribbia, Old High German krippa; compare Middle High German krēbe basket

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 crib

Old English cribbe "manger, fodder bin in cowsheds and fields," from a West Germanic root (cf. Old Saxon kribbia "manger;" Old Frisian and Middle Dutch kribbe; Old High German krippa, German Krippe "crib, manger") probably related to German krebe "basket." Meaning "child's bed with barred sides" is 1640s; probably from frequent use in reference to the manger where infant Jesus was laid. Thieves' slang for "dwelling house" dates to at least 1812, but late 20c. use probably is independent. The Old High German version passed to French and became creche.

"steal," 17c. from crib (n.) in a secondary sense "a basket;" this probably also is the source of student slang meaning "plagiarize" (1778). Related: Cribbed; cribbing.