rib

Everyday

1. One of the curved bones around your chest that protect your heart and lungs. tree →
2. A piece of meat with a rib bone in it (spare ribs). tree →
3. A curved strip that supports something, like the ribs of an umbrella, a boat or a leaf. tree →
4. (informal) To tease someone in a friendly way. tree →

In the lessons

In science, the ribs form the rib cage, part of the skeleton: humans have 12 pairs (24 ribs); the rib cage protects the heart and lungs and moves when you breathe. In safety, cycling and contact sports can bruise or crack ribs. In cooking, ribs are a meat dish. Phrases: rib cage, spare ribs, a cracked rib, dig in the ribs (a poke), rib-tickling (very funny).

Examples

• Your ribs protect your heart and lungs. tree →
• Put your hands on your ribs and feel them move as you breathe. tree →
• Humans have twelve pairs of ribs. tree →
• He cracked a rib when he fell off his bike. tree →
• We had barbecued ribs for dinner. tree →
• The umbrella had a broken rib. tree →
• My brother likes to rib me about my haircut. tree →
• ‘Husband,’ said she, poking him in the ribs with her elbows, ‘wake up. tree →

Note

Countable: a rib, ribs. Past of the verb: ribbed. Myth: men and women have the same number of ribs — 24. «Rib cage» is two words.

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah it is the bone God took from the first man to make the first woman. It is also the side of the altar. In Daniel it is a rib in the mouth of a beast in a dream.

Interpretation. Rabbis discussed whether it was a rib or the whole "side" of Adam. They taught that woman was made to stand beside man as an equal partner. Daniel's beast with ribs in its teeth is read as a picture of a kingdom that devours others.

Examples

• And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. (Torah GEN.2.22, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he made for it two golden rings under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it, for holders for staves wherewith to bear it. (Torah EXO.37.27, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the place with flesh instead thereof. (Torah GEN.2.21, JPS 1917) tree →
• And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was said thus unto it: 'Arise, devour much flesh.' (Writings DAN.7.5, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: a rib, ribs. Past of the verb: ribbed. Myth: men and women have the same number of ribs — 24. «Rib cage» is two words.