▪ I. fib, n.1 colloq.
(fɪb)
Also 8 phibb.
[Of obscure origin; possibly shortened from fible-fable.]
1. A venial or trivial falsehood; often used as a jocular euphemism for ‘a lie’.
| 1611 Cotgr., Bourde, a ieast, fib, tale of a tub. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil ii. iv. (1840) 221, I think it is a fib. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iii, Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no fibs. 1826 Scott Woodst. x, A fib never failed a fanatic. 1842 Thackeray Fitz-Boodle's Prof. i, He must not..tell fibs about himself or them. 1875 H. James R. Hudson ii. 48 No one..was used to offering hollow welcomes or telling polite fibs. |
2. One who tells ‘fibs’; a fibber, a liar.
| 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau v. vi. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 254 What sayest thou, thou fib? 1861 H. Kingsley Ravenshoe III. ix. 140 ‘Oh! you dreadful fib’, said Flora. |
▪ II. fib, n.2
(fɪb)
[f. fib v.2]
A blow.
| 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIV. 111 A fib..which he gave the Black under the left ribs. |
▪ III. fib, n.3 Med. colloq.
(fɪb)
[Shortened f. fibula n.]
A fibula; only in tib and fib: see *tib n.2
▪ IV. fib, v.1
(fɪb)
Also 7 fibb, 8 phib.
[f. fib n.]
intr. To tell a fib; to lie.
| 1690 Dryden Amphitryon iv. i, I do not say he lyes neither: no, I am too well bred for that: but his Lordship fibbs most abominably. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iv. iv, Any particular mark..whereby one may know when you fib. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 8 Both were very apt to fib! 1863 A. Smith Dreamthorp 11 Could I have fibbed..Could I have betrayed a comrade? |
¶ Webster 1864 cites De Quincey for a transitive use, ‘To tell a fib to’; see quot. 1830 s.v. fib v.2
Hence ˈfibbing vbl. n., the action of the vb., an instance of this; ˈfibbing ppl. a.
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiii. xii, At the expence of a little fibbing. 1820 Lamb Final Mem. iii. To Miss Hutchinson 255, I shall certainly go to the naughty man some day for my fibbings. 1879 G. Meredith Egoist xxviii, No one could doubt his talent for elegant fibbing. |
▪ V. fib, v.2 slang.
(fɪb)
trans. To strike or beat, to deliver blows in quick succession upon, as in pugilism. to fib about: to knock about. Also absol. or intr.
| 1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue iv. 32 Fib, to beat. 1692 Coles, Fib, to beat. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v. 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. 1808 Sporting Mag. XXXII. 77 Gully..fibbed him and kept him from falling. 1812 Ibid. XXXIX. 19 Crib..fibbed until Molineux fell. 1831 Mirror XVII. 247/1 If two men choose to stand up and fib each other about..why let them do it. 1865 G. F. Berkeley My Life I. 311, I fibbed at half-a-dozen waistcoats and faces with all my might and main. |
| fig. 1811 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 236 As you will see in the ‘Quarterly’, where I have fibbed the ‘Edinburgh’ (as in the ‘fancy’ say) most completely. 1830 De Quincey Bentley Wks. VII. 90 Here, again, Bentley got Bishop Greene under his arm, and ‘fibbed’ him cruelly. |
Hence ˈfibbing vbl. n., the action of the vb., an instance of this. Also attrib.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Fibbing-gloak, a pugilist; fibbing-match, a boxing-match. 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIV. 72 Oliver got at the fibbing system. 1816 Times 25 Jan., Explain the terms..fibbing—cross buttock..bang up—and—prime. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Bagman's Dog, Muses More skill'd than my meek one in fibbings and bruises. |