crib
pronunciation
How to pronounce crib in British English:
UK [krɪb]
How to pronounce crib in American English:
US [krɪb]
-
- Noun:
- baby bed with high sides
- a literal translation used in studying a foreign language (often used illicitly)
- a card game in which each player is dealt 6 cards and discards one or two to make up the crib
-
- Verb:
- use a crib, as in an exam
- take unauthorized (intellectual material)
- line with beams or planks
Word Origin
- crib
- crib: [OE] Crib is a Germanic word, with relatives today in German (krippe) and Dutch (kribbe). In Old English it meant ‘manger’, and not until the 17th century did it develop its familiar presentday sense ‘child’s bed’. An intermediate stage, now lost, was ‘basket’, which appears to have given rise to its 18th-century use as a thieves’ slang term for ‘pilfer’; this in turn is probably the source of the modern colloquial sense ‘plagiarize’. Vulgar Latin borrowed Old High German kripja as *creppia, from which modern French gets crèche (acquired by English in the 19th century).=> creche
- crib (n.)
- Old English cribbe "manger, fodder bin in cowsheds and fields," from a West Germanic root (cognates: Old Saxon kribbia "manger;" Old Frisian and Middle Dutch kribbe; Old High German krippa, German Krippe "crib, manger") probably related to German krebe "basket." Meaning "child's bed with barred sides" is 1640s; probably from frequent use in reference to the manger where infant Jesus was laid. Thieves' slang for "dwelling house" dates to at least 1812, but late 20c. use probably is independent. The Old High German version passed to French and became creche.
- crib (v.)
- "steal," 17c. from crib (n.) in a secondary sense "a basket;" this probably also is the source of student slang meaning "plagiarize" (1778). Related: Cribbed; cribbing.
Example
- 1. They put a live teddy bear in my crib .
- 2. Maybe I could put that crib back together again .
- 3. She used to throw her toys out of her crib .
- 4. My memory doesn 't stretch to the crib .
- 5. She tucked the baby in his crib for a nap .