crib
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: krĭb
ipa: /kɹɪb/
rhymes: -ɪb
Forms: form: cribs
Etymology: From Middle English crib, cribbe, from Old English crib, cryb, cribb, crybb (“couch, bed; manger, stall”), from Proto-West Germanic *kribbjā, from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ (“crib, wickerwork”), from Proto-Indo-European *grebʰ-, *gerbʰ- (“bunch, bundle, tuft, clump”), from *ger- (“to turn, twist”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Kräbbe, Krääb, Krääf (“crib”), West Frisian krêbe (“crib”), Dutch krib (“crib, manger”), German Krippe (“rack, crib”), Danish krybbe (“crib”), Icelandic krubba (“crib”). Doublet of crèche. The sense of ‘stealing, taking notes, plagiarize’ seems to have developed out of the verb.
The criminal sense may derive from the 'basket' sense, circa the mid 18th century, in that a poacher could conceal poachings in such a basket (see the 1772 Samuel Foote quotation). The cheating sense probably derives from the criminal sense.
Senses: examples: text: 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!
ref: 1889, Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court:
synonyms: cot
glosses: A baby’s bed with high, often slatted, often moveable sides, suitable for a child who has outgrown a cradle or bassinet.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “[HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20140811201712/HTTP://ETEXT.VIRGINIA.EDU/ETCBIN/OT2WWW-PUBENG?SPECFILE=%2FTEXTS%2FENGLISH%2FMODSLAENG%2FPUBLICSEARCH%2FMODENGPUB.O2W CHAPTER ?]”, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: A bed for a child older than a baby.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A small sleeping berth in a packet or other small vessel.
coordinate_terms: Moses basket
glosses: A wicker basket.
glosses: A manger, a feeding trough for animals elevated off the earth or floor, especially one for fodder such as hay.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1835, Washington Irving, chapter 35, in A Tour on the Prairies:
glosses: A bin for drying or storing grain, as with a corn crib.
examples: text: 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
ref: 1871, Richard Malcolm Johnston, Dukesborough Tales:
text: Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
ref: 1611, “Proverbs 14:4”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A small room or covered structure, especially one of rough construction, used for storage or penning animals.
examples: text: The singers were in a crib of wirework (like a large meat-safe or bird-cage) in one corner
ref: 1846, Charles Dickens, Pictures from Italy:
glosses: A confined space, as with a cage or office-cubicle
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1904, Forrest Crissey, Tattlings of a Retired Politician:
text: but if I have lost my crib and get nothing in exchange I shall feel what a soft Johnny I have been.
ref: 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk:
glosses: A job, a position; (British) an appointment.
examples: text: Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, / Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, / And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, / Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
ref: c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, act 3, scene 1, lines 9–12:
glosses: A hovel, a roughly constructed building best suited to the shelter of animals but used for human habitation.
glosses: 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.
glosses: A collection of quotes or references for use in speaking, for assembling a written document, or as an aid to a project of some sort; a crib sheet.
glosses: A minor theft, extortion or embezzlement, with or without criminal intent.
examples: text: “May we play crib, Mrs. Radford?” he asked.
ref: 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Chapter 12”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
qualifier: cribbage
glosses: The card game cribbage.
examples: text: The cards were brought and Fanny played at cribbage with her aunt till bed-time; and as Sir Thomas was reading to himself, no sounds were heard in the room for the next two hours beyond the reckonings of the game—And that makes thirty-one, four in hand and eight in crib.
ref: 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 239:
qualifier: cribbage
glosses: The cards discarded by players and used by the dealer.
topics: computing
cryptography
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A known piece of information corresponding to a section of encrypted text, that is then used to work out the remaining sections.
synonyms: bach
glosses: A small holiday home, often near a beach and of simple construction.
examples: text: He ate a thick square of banana cake from his crib and stared into the fire.
ref: 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 40:
glosses: A snack or packed lunch, especially as taken to work to eat during a break.
glosses: A small raft made of timber.
examples: text: Here's Pannum and Lap, and good Poplars of Yarrum, / To fill up the Crib, and to comfort the Quarron.
ref: 1641–42, Richard Brome, A Joviall Crew, or, The Merry Beggars, published 1652, act 2:
qualifier: thieves' cant
glosses: The stomach.
examples: text: [On Chapman's use of a Latin literal translation of Homer] As will appear, he blocked out his translation from the Latin crib, keeping one eye uneasily on the Greek, and, enlightened by Scapula or by his own poetic intuition, worked out his own rendering, often marking the departure from the Latin by a defiant note in the margin or commentary.
ref: 1966, Millar MacLure, George Chapman: a critical study, page 171:
glosses: A literal translation, usually of a work originally in Latin or Ancient Greek.
glosses: A cheat sheet or past test used by students; crib sheet.
examples: text: Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny?
ref: 1828, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, Pelham, Or, Adventures of a Gentleman:
text: Toby and me were over the garden-wall the night afore last, sounding the panels of the door and shutters. The crib's barred up at night like a jail; but there's one part we can crack, safe and softly.
ref: 1838, Charles Dickens, chapter XIX, in Oliver Twist:
text: My flow, my show brought me the dough / That bought me all my fancy things / My crib, my cars, my pools, my jewels.
ref: 2003, “In da Club”, in 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo (lyrics), Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent:
text: I knew every inch ofthis joint. I had come of age up in here, and it was more of a home to me than the crib where I rested my head each night.
ref: 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 109:
text: Franklin Clinton (Shawn Fonteno): Eh stop shootin' rockets at my crib!"
ref: 2013, Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V, scene: Firing rockets in Franklin's house:
qualifier: sometimes African-American Vernacular
glosses: One’s residence, house or dwelling place, or usual place of resort.
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crack a crib
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib-biter
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib-biting
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib board
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib death
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: cribhouse
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: cribless
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: criblike
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib lizard
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: cribmate
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib mattress
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib midget
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib sheet
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: cribside
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: crib talk
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: cribwork
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: lush-crib
sense: terms derived from crib (noun)
word: portacrib