Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RIB'IN, n. [W. rhibin, a row or streak, a dribblet; rhib, id. Ir. ruibin; Fr. ruban; Arm. rubanou. This word has no connection with band, and the common orthography is grossly erroneous.]

1. A fillet of silk; a narrow web of silk used for an ornament, as a badge, or for fastening some part of female dress. – Dryden.
2. In naval architecture, a long narrow flexible piece of timber, nailed upon the outside of the ribs from the stem to the stern-post, so as to encompass the ship lengthwise; the principal are the floor-ribin and the breadth-ribin. – Mar. Dict.