Also 7 fibb, 8 phib. [f. FIB sb.] 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. If you have any particular mark, Mr. Baboon, whereby one may know when you fib, and when you speak truth, you had best tell it me, that one may proceed accordingly.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 8, ‘The Eve of Battle.’
| Congenial arts ye aye pursued; | |
| Daylight ye studied to exclude; | |
| And both of old were known to Crib, | |
| And both were very apt to fib! |
1863. A. Smith, Dreamthorp, 11. Could I have fibbed in these days? 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 Fibbing vbl. sb., the action of the vb., an instance of this; Fibbing ppl. a.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XIII. xii. As she was perfectly satisfied, then, that Lady Bellaston was ignorant of the person of Jones, so she determined to keep her in that ignorance, though 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, and she was in the humour both to admire and adopt the art, so she was glad to be rescued from herself.
