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floating rib

American  

noun

Anatomy.

  1. one member of the two lowest pairs of ribs, which are attached neither to the sternum nor to the cartilages of other ribs.

floating rib British  

noun

  1. any rib of the lower two pairs of ribs in man, which are not attached to the breastbone

"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

Etymology

Origin of floating rib

First recorded in 1825–35

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.

Lulu would have known them all by heart: sternum, tibia, floating rib.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 1, 2019

“I want to learn more about chinchillas. I know they have floating rib cages.”

From Washington Times • Sep. 24, 2016

It blew my rib out in the front and the back, so I had a full floating rib with no cartilage attached to it.

From Time Magazine Archive

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.