English

Etymology

Pronunciation

• , /kɹɪb/, /krIb/
• Rhymes: -ɪb

Noun

1. A baby’s bed (British and Australasian cot) with high, often slatted, often moveable sides, suitable for a child who has outgrown a cradle or bassinet.

   1889 In two minutes I was kneeling by the child’s crib, and Sandy was dispatching servants here, there, and everywhere, all over the palace. I took in the situation almost at a glance -- membranous croup! — Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

2. A bed for a child older than a baby.

   1848 a day or two afterwards I learned that Miss Temple, on returning to her own room at dawn, had found me laid in the little crib; my face against Helen Burns’s shoulder, my arms round her neck. I was asleep, and Helen was -- dead. — Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.

3. A small sleeping berth in a packet ship or other small vessel
4. A wicker basket; c.f. Moses basket.
5. The baby Jesus and the manger in a creche or Nativity scene, consisting of statues of Mary, Joseph and various other characters such as the magi.
6. A manger, a feeding trough for animals elevated off the earth or floor, especially one for fodder such as hay.
7. A bin for drying or storing grain, as with a corn crib.

   1835 ''...I began to think of my horse. He, however, like an old campaigner, had taken good care of himself. I found him paying assiduous attention to the crib of Indian corn, and dexterously drawing forth and munching the ears that protruded between the bars. — Washington Irving, A Tour on the Prairies, Chapter 35.

8. A small room, especially one of rough construction, used for storage or penning animals.
9. A small, covered structure for confining animals.

   1871 A kitchen, a meat-house, a dairy, a crib with two stalls in the rear, one for the horse the other for the cow, were the out-buildings. — Richard Malcolm Johnston, Dukesborough Tales.

10. A stall for large domestic animals.

    Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. — Proverbs 14:4 KJV

11. A confined space, as with a cage or office-cubicle

    1846 The singers were in a crib of wirework (like a large meat- safe or bird-cage) in one corner — Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy.

12. A job, a position; (British), an appointment.

    1904 He had seen so many lean years of faithful service when the enemy held the corner on all the official cribs that, now in the days of his party’s fatness and of his own righteous reward, the habit of good, honest hustling stuck to him, and he lined up an array of pulls and indorsements that made him swell with happiness every time he went over the list. “Some folks have to die before they can get that sort of thing,” he would say as he tapped the bundle of indorsements. Forrest Crissey, Tattlings of a Retired Politician.

    1893 ...but if I have lost my crib and get nothing in exchange I shall feel what a soft Johnny I have been.'' — Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk”.

13. A hovel, a roughly constructed building best suited to the shelter of animals but used for human habitation.

    How many thousand of my poorest subjects

    Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep,

    Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,

    That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down

    And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

    Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,

    Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee

    And hush’d with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,

    Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,

    Under the canopies of costly state,

    And lull’d with sound of sweetest melody? — Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 2, Act 3, Scene 1

14. A hovel or additional room off a hovel, or set of such rooms, used for prostitution.

    1905 In Los Angeles I saw what was called the “Cribs”, one of the most disgraceful conditions. No one stayed there during the day; they were there just for the night only. These poor degraded girls would pay two dollars a night to the owners. — Carry Nation, The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation, Chapter 16.

15. One’s residence, or where one normally hangs out.
16. A boxy structure traditionally built of heavy wooden timbers, to support an existing structure from below, as with a mineshaft or a building being raised off its foundation in preparation for being moved; see cribbing.
17. italbrac usually plural A collection of quotes or references for use in speaking, for for assembling a written document, or as an aid to a project of some sort; a crib sheet.

    These cribs are taken from a Google on “foobar”.

18. The licit or illicit use of a pony or cheat sheet when taking a test; when illicit, a form of academic dishonesty, and even plagiarism.

    1917 ''At school and at college Richard was, to say the least, an indifferent student. And what made this undeniable fact so annoying, particularly to his teachers, was that morally he stood so very high. To “crib,” to lie, or in any way to cheat or to do any unworthy act was, I believe, quite beyond his understanding. — Richard Harding Davis, Adventures and Letters of Richard Harding Davis.

19. A minor theft, extortion or embezzlement, with or without criminal intent.
20. In the context of "Cribbage": : Short for the card game cribbage.

    1913 “May we play crib, Mrs. Radford?” he asked. — D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers.

21. In the context of "Cribbage": : The cards discarded by players and used by the dealer.

    1814 “And that makes thirty-one; -- four in hand and eight in crib. -- You are to deal, ma’am; shall I deal for you?” — Jane Austen, Mansfield Park'' Chapter 2.1.

22. italbrac cryptanalysis A known piece of information corresponding to a section of encrypted text, that is then used to work out the remaining sections.
23. A small holiday home, often near a beach and of simple construction.

Synonyms

• italbrac-colon holiday home bach

Translations