Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RIB, n. [Sax. rib or ribb; Ice. rif; G. rippe; D. rib, a rib or rafter; Sw. refben, rib or side bone; Dan. ribbe or rib-been, rib-bone; Russ. rebro, a rib or side. This word, like the L. costa, signifies side, border, extremity, whence the compound in Sw. and Dan. rib-bone, that is, side-bone. It may be allied to the L. ripa. The sense of side is generally from extending.]

1. A bone of animal bodies which forms a part of the frame of the thorax. The ribs in the human body are twelve on each side, proceeding from the spine to the sternum, or toward it, and serving to inclose and protect the heart and lungs.
2. In ship building, a piece of timber which forms or strengthens the side of a ship. Ribs of a parrel, are short pieces of plank, having holes through which are reeved the two parts of the parrel-rope. – Mar. Dict.
3. In botany, the continuation of the petiole along the middle of a leaf, and from which the veins take their rise. – Martyn.
4. In cloth, a prominent line or rising, like a rib.
5. Something long, thin and narrow; a strip. [W. rhib.]