subs. (old).—1. The stomach. Cf., CRIBBING, sense 1. [A transferred sense of CRIB = a manger, rack, or feeding place. Cf., Isaiah i., 3, ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.’] For synonyms, see BREAD-BASKET and VICTUALLING OFFICE.
1656. R. BROME, A Joviall Crew, Act. ii.
| Here’s pannum and lap, and good poplars of Yarrum, | |
| To fill up the CRIB, and to comfort the quarron. |
2. (colloquial).—A house; place of abode; apartments; lodgings; shop; warehouse; ‘den,’ ‘diggings,’ or ‘snuggery.’ For synonyms, see DIGGINGS. [From A.S., crib, or cribb a small habitation.]
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 2 Henry IV., iii. 1.
| Why, rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky CRIBS,… | |
| Than in the perfumed chambers of the great? |
1830. BULWER-LYTTON, Paul Clifford, p. 80 (ed. 1854).
| Now, now in the CRIB, where a ruffler may lie, | |
| Without fear that the traps should distress him. |
1837. DICKENS, Oliver Twist, ch. xix. The CRIB’S barred up at night like a jail.
1847. Illustrated London News, 22 May. The burglar has his CRIB in Clerkenwell.
1860. Chambers’s Journal, vol. XIII., p. 212. He said he was awful flattered like by the honour of seeing two such gents at his CRIB.
1882. Daily News, 5 Oct., p. 5, col. 2. To manage escapes from prison successfully is only an application of the principles which enable the burglar to crack the rural CRIB and appropriate the swag of her Majesty’s peaceful subjects.
3. (popular).—A situation, ‘place,’ or ‘berth.’ [The transition from subs., sense 2, is easy and natural.]
4. (schools’ and university).—A literal translation surreptitiously used by students; also a theft of any kind; specifically, anything copied without acknowledgment.—[See verb., sense 2.] For synonyms, see PONY.
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 185. He has with a prudent forethought stuffed his CRIBS inside his double-breasted waistcoat.
1853. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, pt. I., p. 64.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ch. xxii. I wish I had read Greek a little more at school … when we return I think I shall try and read it with CRIBS.
1866. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. Tom, I want you to give up using vulgus books and CRIBS.
1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, col. 4. Always, it seems likely, there will be men ‘going up’ for examinations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had CRIBS up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.
5. (thieves’).—A bed.—[See subs., senses 2 and 3.]
1827. MAGINN, from VIDOCQ. Lend me a lift in the family way. You may have a CRIB to stow in.
Verb (colloquial).—1. To steal or pilfer; used specifically of petty thefts. For synonyms, see PRIG.
1748. T. DYCHE, A New General English Dictionary (5 ed.). CRIB (v.): to with-hold, keep back, pinch, or thieve a part out of money given to lay out for necessaries.
1772. FOOTE, The Nabob, Act i. There are a brace of birds and a hare, that I CRIBBED this morning out of a basket of game.
1846. HOOD, Ode to Rae Wilson, Esqr., wks., vol. IV., p. 224.
| Yet sure of Heaven themselves, as if they’d CRIBB’D | |
| Th’ impression of St. Peter’s keys in wax! |
1855. BROWNING, Men and Women. Fra Lippo Lippi, ed. 1863, p. 351.
| First every sort of monk, the black and white, | |
| I drew them, fat and lean: then, folks at church, | |
| From good old gossips waiting to confess | |
| Their CRIBS of barrel-droppings, candle-ends. |
1889. Answers, 27 July, page 141, col. 1. He knew that if the manuscript got about the Yankees would think it a smart thing to CRIB it.
2. (schools’ and university).—To use a translation; to cheat at an examination; to plagiarise.
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 177. CRIBBING his answers from a tiny manual of knowledge, two inches by one-and-a-half in size, which he hides under his blotting-paper.
1856. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. iii. Finishing up with two highly moral lines extra, making ten in all, which he CRIBBED entire from one of his books.
TO CRACK A CRIB.—See under CRACK.
