crib

[ krib ]

noun

1. a child's bed with enclosed sides.
2. a stall or pen for cattle.
3. a rack or manger for fodder, as in a stable or barn.
4. a bin for storing grain, salt, etc.
5. Informal.
   1. a translation, list of correct answers, or other illicit aid used by students while reciting, taking exams, or the like; pony.
   2. plagiarism.
   3. a petty theft.
6. a room, closet, etc., in a factory or the like, in which tools are kept and issued to workers.
7. a shallow, separate section of a bathing area, reserved for small children.
8. any confined space.
9. Slang. a house, shop, etc., frequented by thieves or regarded by thieves as a likely place for burglarizing.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. a lining for a well or other shaft.
13. Slang. one's home; pad.
14. Cribbage. a set of cards made up by equal contributions from each player's hand, and belonging to the dealer.
15. a cheap, ill-kept brothel.
16. a wicker basket.
17. 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.

1. Informal. to pilfer or steal, especially to plagiarize (another's writings or ideas).
2. to confine in or as if in a crib.
3. to provide with a crib or cribs.
4. to line with timber or planking.

verb (used without object)

, cribbed, crib·bing.

1. Informal.
   1. to use a crib in examinations, homework, translating, etc.
   2. to steal; plagiarize.
2. (of a horse) to practice cribbing.

crib

/ krɪb /

noun

1. a child's bed with slatted wooden sides; cot
2. a cattle stall or pen
3. a fodder rack or manger
4. a bin or granary for storing grain, etc
5. a small crude cottage or room
6. informal.
   a house or residence
7. a weekend cottage: term is South Island usage only
8. any small confined space
9. informal.
   a brothel
10. a wicker basket
11. a representation of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid at birth
12. informal.
    a theft, esp of another's writing or thoughts
13. informal.
    Also called (esp US)pony a translation of a foreign text or a list of answers used by students, often illicitly, as an aid in lessons, examinations, etc
14. short for cribbage
15. cribbage the discard pile
16. Also calledcribwork a framework of heavy timbers laid in layers at right angles to one another, used in the construction of foundations, mines, etc
17. a storage area for floating logs contained by booms
18. a packed lunch taken to work

verb

1. tr to put or enclose in or as if in a crib; furnish with a crib
2. informal.
   tr to steal (another's writings or thoughts)
3. informal.
   intr to copy either from a crib or from someone else during a lesson or examination
4. tr to line (a construction hole) with timber beams, logs, or planks
5. informal.
   intr to grumble

Derived Forms

• ˈcribber, noun

Other Words From

• un·crib verb (used with object) uncribbed uncribbing

Word History and Origins

Origin of crib¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of crib¹

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

Example Sentences

Dan Evans, then the team’s assistant GM, was impressed with her smarts—and the fact that she didn’t get flustered when she entered his office and found a spit cloth on his shoulder and his 3-month-old baby napping in a crib.

From Time

Set up the base station within 100 feet of the baby’s crib and Bluetooth technology will transmit pulse rate and blood oxygen levels.

From Popular-Science

Gray lifted her daughter, just shy of two at the time, from her crib, telling her the family was going on a fun trip with the dogs.

From Outside Online

Thinking this was strange, they later put in a video camera and then caught the father and the 19-year-old schoolmate of mine going from crib to crib fondling babies.

From Ozy

There’s no assumption of personal privacy in someone else’s crib.

From Ozy

Others cheated by taking crib sheets to the blackboard with them, concealing them from Jackson but not from the other students.

From The Daily Beast

The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates for infants to be put to sleep in a bare crib to prevent SIDS.

From The Daily Beast

A bed for people with special needs—essentially a large crib—can cost about $10,000.

From The Daily Beast

He is now able to climb out of a regular crib, largely in virtue of his height.

From The Daily Beast

After lunch, I put Julia in her crib for a nap, and though she struggled, the excitement of the day took her under.

From The Daily Beast

Then, kindly and gently, the boy took Squinty over to the place where the corn crib was built on to the barn.

From Project Gutenberg

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.

From Project Gutenberg

A short time after, while Willy was asleep in his crib, his mamma went out to draw some water.

From Project Gutenberg

Among other things, the rhinoceros was knocked so heavily against the bars of his crib that they began to give way.

From Project Gutenberg

Hepzebiah never stirred in her crib, and Jehosophat lay dreaming of something very pleasant.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bunk
• cot
• rack