fib
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See also: FIB
Contents
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Probably from fable; compare fibble-fable (“nonsense”).
Noun[edit]
fib (plural fibs)
- (informal) A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.
- Henry James
- They are very serious; they don't tell fibs.
- Henry James
- (informal, rare) A liar.
- 1861, Kingsley, Henry, Ravenshoe:
- "Oh! you dreadful fib," said Flora.
Synonyms[edit]
- (lie): See Thesaurus:lie
Translations[edit]
a more or less inconsequential lie
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Verb[edit]
fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)
- (informal, intransitive) To lie, especially more or less inconsequentially.
Translations[edit]
to tell a more or less inconsequential lie
Derived terms[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- fib in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913. (etymology)
- “fib” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
Etymology 2[edit]
Shortened from fibula.
Noun[edit]
fib (plural fibs)
See also[edit]
Etymology 3[edit]
Verb[edit]
fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)
- (archaic, thieves' cant, boxing) To punch, especially a series of punches in rapid succession; to beat; to hit; to strike.
- 1785, Grose, Francis, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue[1], 2nd edition, published 1788, To Fib:
- Fib the cove's quarron in the rumpad for the lour in his bung; beat the fellow in the highway for the money in his purse.
- 1852, Thackeray, William Makepeace, “The Fight at Slaughter House”, in Men's Wives, page 16:
- As Biggs and his party arrived, I heard Hawkins say to Berry, "For heaven’s sake, my boy, fib with your right, and mind his left hand!"
- 1865, Berkeley, Grantley, “Eton Boys”, in My Life and Recollections, volume 1, page 311:
- Then there was a wild scuffle and a furious outcry, and all the bargemen for a moment seemed to hug me and themselves too; when, as there was no room to hit out, in the phraseology of the ring, I fibbed at half-a-dozen waistcoats and faces with all my might and main.
- 1883, Pyle, Howard, “Robin Hood Turns Beggar”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood[2], page 207:
- Quoth he, "Thou dost surely jest when thou sayest that thou dost not understand such words. Answer me this: Hast thou ever fibbed a chouse quarrons in the Rome pad for the loure in his bung?"
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- fibbing (“pummelling”)
- fibbing-gloak
- fibbing-match
References[edit]
- Farmer, John Stephen (1891) Slang and Its Analogues[3], volume 2, page 387
Etymology 4[edit]
Short for Fibonacci.
Noun[edit]
fib (plural fibs)
- (neologism) A kind of experimental poem where the number of syllables in each line is the next succeeding Fibonacci number.
Anagrams[edit]
Volapük[edit]
Noun[edit]
fib (plural fibs)
Declension[edit]
declension of fib
Derived terms[edit]
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English informal terms
- English terms with rare senses
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Medicine
- English terms with archaic senses
- Thieves' cant
- en:Boxing
- English neologisms
- English eponyms
- Volapük lemmas
- Volapük nouns
