fib meaning (informal): definition, etymology and quotations

fib

noun

/fɪb/

Etymology Unknown. Probably from fable; compare fible-fable (“nonsense”).

Informal A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.

Aſk me no queſtions, and I'll tell you no fibs.1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 51:
Wouldn’t that serve as an excuse, in Boston? I am told they are very sincere; they don't tell fibs.1878 July–October, Henry James, Jr., chapter VI, in The Europeans. A Sketch. […], volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1878, →OCLC, page 226:

verb

Etymology Unknown. Probably from fable; compare fible-fable (“nonsense”).

Informal To lie, especially more or less inconsequentially.

noun

Etymology Clipping of fibula.

Medicine, Sciences Informal The fibula.

verb

Boxing, Government, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Martial arts, Military, Politics, Sports, War Archaic To punch, especially a series of punches in rapid succession; to beat; to hit; to strike.

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.1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, published 1788, To Fib:
The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed.1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

3 more examples

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!"1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Fight at Slaughter House”, in Men's Wives, page 16:
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.1865, Grantley Berkeley, “Eton Boys”, in My Life and Recollections, volume 1, page 311:
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?"1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part sixth, page 207:

noun

Etymology Short for Fibonacci.

Neologism A kind of experimental poem where the number of syllables in each line is the next succeeding Fibonacci number.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.