%ribb%

v. t. To scribble over. “Bescribbled with impertinences.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. selected or chosen for special qualifications; as, a blue-ribbon grand jury.
Syn. -- blue ribbon(predicate), select. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } a. Of or pertaining to the Caribs, to their islands (the eastern and southern West Indies), or to the sea (called the Caribbean sea) lying between those islands and Central America. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A Carib. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Crib, v. t., 2. ] A game of cards, played by two or four persons, in which there is a crib. (See Crib, 11.) It is characterized by a great variety of chances. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man's fancy would be summed up in cribbage. John Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cribbage board, a board with holes and pegs, used by cribbage players to score their game. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of inclosing or confining in a crib or in close quarters. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Purloining; stealing; plagiarizing. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mining) A framework of timbers and plank backing for a shaft lining, to prevent caving, percolation of water, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A vicious habit of a horse; crib-biting. The horse lays hold of the crib or manger with his teeth and draws air into the stomach with a grunting sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. A horse that has the habit of cribbing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. crible, LL. criblus sieve, fr. L. cribrum. ] 1. A coarse sieve or screen. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Coarse flour or meal. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cribbled p. pr. & vb. n. Cribbling ] [ Cf. F. cribler. ] To cause to pass through a sieve or riddle; to sift. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Coarse; as, cribble bread. [ Obs. ] Huloet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who dribs; one who shoots weakly or badly. [ Obs. ] Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Dribbled p. pr. & vb. n. Dribbing ] [ Freq. of drib, which is a variant of drip. ] 1. To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To slaver, as a child or an idiot; to drivel. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To fall weakly and slowly. [ Obs. ] “The dribbling dart of love.” Shak. (Meas. for Meas. , i. 3, 2). [ Perhaps an error for dribbing. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. In basketball, football and similar games, to dribble{ 2 } the ball. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

5. To live or pass one's time in a trivial fashion. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. 1. To let fall in drops. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let the cook . . . dribble it all the way upstairs. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In basketball and various other games, to propel (the ball) by successive slight hits or kicks so as to keep it always in control. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. A drizzling shower; a falling or leaking in drops. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An act of dribbling{ 2 } a ball. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. One who dribbles.

{ } n. [ From Dribble. ] A small piece or part; a small sum; a small quantity of money in making up a sum; as, the money was paid in dribblets. [ 1913 Webster ]

When made up in dribblets, as they could, their best securities were at an interest of twelve per cent. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. frivole, L. frivolus, or E. frippery. ] Frivolous; trifling; silly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A frivolous, contemptible fellow; a fop. [ 1913 Webster ]

A pert fribble of a peer. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To act in a trifling or foolish manner; to act frivolously. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fools that are fribbling round about you. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To totter. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A trifler; a fribble. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Frivolous; trining; toolishly captious.

n. [ Cf. Prov. E. grib to bite. ] (Zool.) A small marine isopod crustacean (Limnoria lignorum or Limnoria terebrans), which burrows into and rapidly destroys submerged timber, such as the piles of wharves, both in Europe and America. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. (Bot.) The same as Quinquenerved. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A ribbon. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Rib + band. ] [ Written also riband, and ribbon. ] (Shipbuilding) A long, narrow strip of timber bent and bolted longitudinally to the ribs of a vessel, to hold them in position, and give rigidity to the framework. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rib-band lines, oblique longitudinal sections of the hull of a vessel. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Furnished or formed with ribs; as, a ribbed cylinder; ribbed cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) Intercalated with slate; -- said of a seam of coal. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An assemblage or arrangement of ribs, as the timberwork for the support of an arch or coved ceiling, the veins in the leaves of some plants, ridges in the fabric of cloth, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. riban, OF. riban, F. ruban, probably of German origin; cf. D. ringband collar, necklace, E. ring circle, and band. ] [ Written also riband, ribband. ] 1. A fillet or narrow woven fabric, commonly of silk, used for trimming some part of a woman's attire, for badges, and other decorative purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A narrow strip or shred; as, a steel or magnesium ribbon; sails torn to ribbons. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Shipbuilding) Same as Rib-band. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. Driving reins. [ Cant ] London Athenaeum. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Her.) A bearing similar to the bend, but only one eighth as wide. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Spinning) A silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The blue ribbon, and The red ribbon, are phrases often used to designate the British orders of the Garter and of the Bath, respectively, the badges of which are suspended by ribbons of these colors. See Blue ribbon, under Blue. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ribbon fish. (Zool.) (a) Any elongated, compressed, ribbon-shaped marine fish of the family Trachypteridae, especially the species of the genus Trachypterus, and the oarfish (Regelecus Banksii) of the North Atlantic, which is sometimes over twenty feet long. (b) The hairtail, or bladefish. (c) A small compressed marine fish of the genus Cepola, having a long, slender, tapering tail. The European species (Cepola rubescens) is light red throughout. Called also band fish. --
Ribbon grass (Bot.), a variety of reed canary grass having the leaves stripped with green and white; -- called also Lady's garters. See Reed grass, under Reed. --
Ribbon seal (Zool.), a North Pacific seal (Histriophoca fasciata). The adult male is dark brown, conspicuously banded and striped with yellowish white. --
Ribbon snake (Zool.), a common North American snake (Eutainia saurita). It is conspicuously striped with bright yellow and dark brown. --
Ribbon Society, a society in Ireland, founded in the early part of the 19th century in antagonism to the Orangemen. It afterwards became an organization of tennant farmers banded together to prevent eviction by landlords. It took its name from the green ribbon worn by members as a badge. --
Ribborn worm. (Zool.) (a) A tapeworm. (b) A nemertean. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ribboned p. pr. & vb. n. Ribboning. ] To adorn with, or as with, ribbons; to mark with stripes resembling ribbons. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The principles and practices of the Ribbonmen. See Ribbon Society, under Ribbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. -men. A member of the Ribbon Society. See Ribbon Society, under Ribbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A malvaceous tree (Hoheria populnea) of New Zealand, the bark of which is used for cordage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A painter's pencil. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To write without care, elegance, or value; to scrawl. [ 1913 Webster ]

If Maevius scribble in Apollo's spite. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Scribbled p. pr. & vb. n. Scribbling ] [ From Scribe. ] 1. To write hastily or carelessly, without regard to correctness or elegance; as, to scribble a letter. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fill or cover with careless or worthless writing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Scrabble. ] (Woolen Manuf.) To card coarsely; to run through the scribbling machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Hasty or careless writing; a writing of little value; a scrawl; as, a hasty scribble. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Neither did I but vacant seasons spend
In this my scribble. Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A scribble. [ R. ] Foster. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who scribbles; a petty author; a writer of no reputation; a literary hack. [ 1913 Webster ]

The scribbler, pinched with hunger, writes to dine. Granville. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A scribbling machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 1st Scribble. ] The act or process of carding coarsely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Scribbling machine, the machine used for the first carding of wool or other fiber; -- called also scribbler. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Writing hastily or poorly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye newspaper witlings! ye pert scribbling folks! Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of writing hastily or idly. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a scribbling manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Triple; treble; threefold. [ Prov. Eng. or Colloq. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A transcriber; -- used in contempt. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ Aristotle ] has suffered vastly from the transcribblers, as all authors of great brevity necessarily must. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]