fib

Noun

fib (plural fibs)

1. (informal) A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.
   • Henry James

     They are very serious; they don't tell fibs.

2. (informal, rare) A liar.
   • 1861, Kingsley, Henry, Ravenshoe:

     "Oh! you dreadful fib," said Flora.

Verb

fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)

1. (informal, intransitive) To lie, especially more or less inconsequentially.

Derived terms

• fibber
• fibbery
• fibster

References

• fib in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913 (etymology)

Noun

fib (plural fibs)

1. (medicine, informal) The fibula.

Verb

fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)

1. (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.

   • 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, Pyle, Howard, “Robin Hood Turns Beggar”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood‎, 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?"

Synonyms

• pummel

Derived terms

• fibbing (“pummelling”)
• fibbing-gloak
• fibbing-match

References

• Farmer, John Stephen (1891) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 2, page 387

Declension

Derived terms

• fibot