cribbing

American  

[krib-ing] / ˈkrɪb ɪŋ /

noun

1. Also called wind-sucking.  Also called crib-biting.  Veterinary Medicine. an injurious habit in which a horse bites its manger and as a result swallows air.

2. Mining.

   1. a timber lining, closely spaced, as in a shaft or raise.

   2. pieces of timber for lining a shaft, raise, etc.

3. Building Trades, Civil Engineering. a system of cribs, as for retaining earth or for a building or the like being moved or having its foundations rebuilt.

---

Etymology

Origin of cribbing

First recorded in 1635–45; crib + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

I’ve done the same a hundred times, cribbing from emails to compose essays, from text messages to finish poems.

From Salon • Feb. 9, 2025

Thomas Weber, an expert on German history, pointed out that in modern Germany one far-right party has been cribbing wholesale from parts of the Nazi party manifesto.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2024

Firefighters secured the truck with “a grip hoist, grade 100 chain, and 6-inch vehicle strap cribbing, straps to keep the massively heavy vehicle from rolling any further forward,” fire officials posted on Facebook.

From Washington Times • Dec. 26, 2023

The discipline already had a “massive plagiarism problem” with students borrowing computer code from friends or cribbing it from the internet, said MacKellar.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2023

There isn’t a thing for it on God’s earth but switchbacks and five-per-cent. grades down to the bottom of the creek and cribbing across it till the new line is ready.

From Whispering Smith by Wyeth, N. C. (Newell Convers)

Related Words

• falsification
• infringement
• piracy