lib
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈlɪb/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪb
Etymology 1
Abbreviation for various words beginning in lib-.
Noun
lib (countable and uncountable, plural libs)
- (politics) liberal
- own the libs
- liberation
- women's lib
- library
- libertarian
Etymology 2
From Middle English libbe, from Old English lybb, lyb (“medicine, drug, potion, poison, charm”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubi, from Proto-Germanic *lubją (“wort, herb, drug, poison”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *lewb- (“to peel, break, damage”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to cut, remove, prune, separate”). Cognate with German Luppe, Lüppe (“salve, ointment, plant juice, medicine, magic”), Icelandic lyf (“medicine, drug”).
Etymology 3
From Middle English *libben (suggested by libbyng (“gelding”), lybbere (“gelder”)), related to Dutch lubben (“to castrate, emasculate”), Dutch libbe (“a steer”), lubbert (“a eunuch”). Further relation uncertain. Possibly related to Old English *lybban (“to doctor”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubbjan; or perhaps related to Old English lappa, læppa (“lappet, piece, section, lobe, portion, district”). More at lop.
Verb
lib (third-person singular simple present libs, present participle libbing, simple past and past participle libbed)
- (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To geld; castrate; emasculate (usually said of animals).
Related terms
- glib
- libbert
- libbet
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈlɪp]
- Rhymes: -ɪp
Haitian Creole
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /lib/
Related terms
References
- Targète, Jean and Urciolo, Raphael G. Haitian Creole-English dictionary (1993; →ISBN)
Old High German
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *līb.
Derived terms
Old Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /lʲivʲ/
Pronoun
lib
- second-person plural of la
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 14a8
- Níba cuit adíll ⁊ cucuibsi, acht ainfa lib, ar nídad foirbthi-si; it foirbthi immurgu Macidonii.
- It will not be merely a passing visit to you pl, but I will remain with you, for you are not perfect; the Macedonians, however, are perfect.
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 14a8