Ribs definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (67)

American Heritage Dictionary (13)

noun Anatomy One of a series of long curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and extending from the spine to or toward the sternum.
noun Anatomy A similar bone in most vertebrates.
noun A part or piece similar to a rib and serving to shape or support: the rib of an umbrella.

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Century Dictionary (44)

In anatomy and zoology, a costa; a pleurapophysis, with or without a hemapophysis; the pleurapophysial element of a vertebra, of whatever size, shape, or mode of connection with a vertebra. In ordinary language the term rib is restricted to one of the series of long slender bones which are movably articulated with or entirely disconnected from the vertebræ, occur in pairs, and extend to or toward the sternum or middle ventral line of the body. In many vertebrates such ribs are characteristic of or confined to the thoracic or dorsal region, and form, together with the corresponding vertebræ and with the sternum, a kind of bony cage for the thoracic viscera—the chest or thorax. Such ribs are called thoracic or dorsal, and are often the only free ribs an animal may possess, as is usually the case in mammals. In man there are twelve pairs of such ribs. The first of these articulates with the upper part of the side of the body of the first dorsal vertebra; the second to the ninth inclusive articulate at an intervertebral space, and consequently with two vertebræ apiece; the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth articulate with the single vertebra to which they correspond. The first to the tenth ribs articulate by their heads with bodies of vertebræ as above stated, and also by their shoulders with transverse processes, which latter articulations are lacking to the eleventh and twelfth ribs. The first seven ribs reach the sternum by means of costal cartilages, and are called true ribs; the last five ribs do not, and are called false ribs: of these last the first three join one another by means of their costal cartilages, while the last two are entirely free or “floating” at their ends. Only the bony part of a rib is a pleurapophysis; the gristly part, or costal cartilage, is a hemapophysis. Parts of a bony rib commonly distinguished are the head or capitulum, the neck or cervix, the shoulder or tuberculum, and the shaft. Most of the ribs are not only curved as a whole, but also somewhat bent at a point called the angle, and, moreover, twisted on their own axis. In man there are occasionally supernumerary cervical or lumbar ribs of ordinary character, that are extended from and freely jointed to their vertebræ; and all the human cervical vertebræ have rudimentary ribs ankylosed with their respective vertebræ, represented by that part of the transverse process which bounds the vertebrarterial foramen in front. Mammals have frequently more or fewer than twelve pairs of thoracic ribs. Ribs occurring in any part of the vertebral column are named from that port: as, cervical, thoracic or dorsal, dorsolumbar, lumbar, or sacral ribs. In birds and reptiles the number of ribs is extremely variable, and their situation may extend from head to tail. Frequently they are jointed in the middle, or at the point where in a mammal the bony part joins the cartilaginous. Some of them may be free or floating at the vertebral as well as at the sternal end. Some ribs in birds bear peculiar splint-bones called uncinate processes. (See cut under epipleura.) In chelonians the ribs are fixed, and consolidated with broad plate-like dermal bones to form the carapace. The greatest number of ribs is found in some serpents, which have more than two hundred pairs. In some fishes, ribs are apparently doubled in number by forking; this is the principal reason why the bones of a shad, for example, seem so numerous. See also cuts under carapace and skeleton. Ut of his side he toc a rib, And made a wimman him ful sib, And heled him that side wel. Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), l. 227. Dainty bits Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits. Shak., L. L. L., i. 1. 27.
That which resembles a rib in use, position, etc.; a strip, band, or piece of anything when used as a support, or as a member of a framework or skeleton. Thirdly, in settyng on of your fether [a question may be asked], whether it be pared or drawen with a thicke rybbe, or a thinne rybbe (the rybbe is ye hard quill whiche deuydeth the fether). Ascham, Toxophilus, ii. We should have been in love with flames, and have thought the gridiron fairer than the spondæ, the ribs of a marital bed. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, iii. 9. He consulted to remove the whole wall by binding it about with ribs of iron and timber, to convey it into France. Evelyn, Diary, March 23, 1646.
Specifically— Some part or organ of an animal like or likened to a rib; a costate or costiform process; a long narrow thickening of a surface; a ridge; a strip or stripe: as, (1) one of the veins or nerves of an insect's wing; (2) one of a set or series of parallel or radiating ridges on a shell; (3) one of the ciliated rays or ctenophores of a ctenophoran.

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Except the people with the broken ribs and Mahoney could tell them point blank to shut up and be happy that their ribs were the only things broken. — The Lesson of Her Death
From the shallowness of her breathing and the way she held her torso, I judged that her ribs were at least cracked. — A Monstrous Regiment of Women - Laurie R. King - Russell-Holmes 02
The victim made a sudden movement… The bullet was deflected and the ribs are about all that was hit… There are bruises on the shoulder and the arms, and scratches on the hands and knees which must have occurred at the same , time And the other bullet The shoulder-blade has been smashed. — Maigret at the Crossroads - Georges Simenon - 07
By far the ribs were the stars of the meal with the brisket coming in second. — RVABlogs
I still recognize my face in the mirror, though the visible outline of several of my ribs is a new development. — The Web Comic List - Latest Webcomics

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