fib
See also: FIB
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fɪb/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɪb
Etymology 1
Probably from fable; compare fibble-fable (“nonsense”).
Noun
fib (plural fibs)
- (informal) A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lie
- 1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], OCLC 973672395, Act III, page 51:
- Aſk me no queſtions, and I'll tell you no fibs.
- 1878, Henry James, chapter 6, in The Europeans, Macmillan and Co.:
- Wouldn’t that serve as an excuse, in Boston? I am told they are very sincere; they don't tell fibs.
- (informal, rare) A liar.
- 1861, Henry Kingsley, Ravenshoe:
- "Oh! you dreadful fib," said Flora.
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Translations
a more or less inconsequential lie
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Verb
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
to tell a more or less inconsequential lie
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Derived terms
- fibber
- fibbery
- fibster
See also
- pilfer
References
- fib in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913 (etymology)
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “fib”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Etymology 2
Shortened from fibula.
Noun
fib (plural fibs)
- (medicine, informal) The fibula.
See also
- tib
Verb
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, 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.
- 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son
- The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed.
- 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, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], OCLC 22773434, part sixth, 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?"
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Synonyms
- pummel
Derived terms
- fibbing (“pummelling”)
- fibbing-gloak
- fibbing-match
References
- Farmer, John Stephen (1891) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 2, page 387
Etymology 4
Short for Fibonacci.
Noun
fib (plural fibs)
- (neologism) A kind of experimental poem where the number of syllables in each line is the next succeeding Fibonacci number.
See also
etymologically unrelated terms
- A-fib
- a-fib
- v-fib
- V-fib
Anagrams
- BFI, BIF, FBI, IBF, bif
Volapük
Noun
fib (nominative plural fibs)
- weakness
Declension
declension of fib
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | fib | fibs |
| genitive | fiba | fibas |
| dative | fibe | fibes |
| accusative | fibi | fibis |
| vocative 1 | o fib! | o fibs! |
| predicative 2 | fibu | fibus |
- 1 status as a case is disputed
- 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
Derived terms
- fibot