fibbing

English

Verb

fibbing

1. present participle and gerund of fib

Noun

fibbing (plural fibbings)

1. (informal) The telling of a lie.
   • 1893, Methodist Review, volume 75, page 957:

     Of the fibbings, conventional falsehoods, and white lies disfiguring and vitiating social intercourse and common commercial transactions, it is enough to say that they are in jarring discord with […]

2. (archaic, boxing) Repeatedly striking an opponent's head while holding them in a headlock; a pummelling; a drubbing; a beating.
   • 1837, Barham, The Ghost:

     And so did Nick, whom sometimes there would come on / A sort of fear his spouse might knock his head off, / Demolish half his teeth, or drive a rib in, / She shone so much in 'facers' and in 'fibbing.'

   • 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Fight at Slaughter House”, in Men's Wives, page 17:

     15th round. Chancery. Fibbing. Biggs makes dreadful work with his left. Break away. Rally. Biggs down. Betting still six to four on the gown-boy.