Word: crib Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /kɹɪb/ 1. A baby’s bed with high, often slatted, often moveable sides, suitable for a child who has outgrown a cradle or bassinet. Labels: US, countable, uncountable Example: 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! 2. A bed for a child older than a baby. Labels: UK, countable, uncountable Example: 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. 3. A small sleeping berth in a packet or other small vessel. Labels: countable, uncountable 4. A wicker basket. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. A manger, a feeding trough for animals elevated off the earth or floor, especially one for fodder such as hay. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 7. A bin for drying or storing grain, such as a corn crib. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 8. A small room or covered structure, especially one of rough construction, used for storage or penning animals. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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 Example: Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. 9. A confined space, such as a cage or office cubicle. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The singers were in a crib of wirework (like a large meat-safe or bird-cage) in one corner 10. A job, a position; (UK) an appointment. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: 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. Example: but if I have lost my crib and get nothing in exchange I shall feel what a soft Johnny I have been. 11. A hovel, a roughly constructed building best suited to the shelter of animals but used for human habitation. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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, 12. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. 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. Labels: countable, plural-normally, uncountable 14. A minor theft, extortion or embezzlement, with or without criminal intent. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable 15. The card game cribbage. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: “May we play crib, Mrs. Radford?” he asked. 16. The cards discarded by players and used by the dealer, akin to the kitty or widow in other card games. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. 17. A known piece of information corresponding to a section of encrypted text, that is then used to work out the remaining sections. Labels: countable, uncountable 18. A small holiday home, often near a beach and of simple construction. Labels: New-Zealand, Southern, countable, uncountable 19. A snack or packed lunch, especially as taken to work to eat during a break. Labels: Australia, New-Zealand, countable, uncountable Example: He ate a thick square of banana cake from his crib and stared into the fire. 20. A small raft made of timber. Labels: Canada, countable, uncountable 21. The stomach. Labels: UK, countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: Here's Pannum and Lap, and good Poplars of Yarrum, / To fill up the Crib, and to comfort the Quarron. 22. A literal translation, usually of a work originally in Latin or Ancient Greek. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: [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. 23. A cheat sheet or past test used by students; crib sheet. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: 'This is not the Berlitz School of Languages, Head of S. If you want to show off your knowledge of foreign jawbreakers, be good enough to provide a crib. Better still, write in English.' 24. One’s residence, house or dwelling place, or usual place of resort. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny? Example: 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.