different between nib vs fib

English

Alternative forms

• knib (obsolete)

Etymology

From a variant of neb, perhaps due to association with nibble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Noun

nib (plural nibs)

1. The tip of a pen or tool that touches the surface, transferring ink to paper.
   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1

     Slowly welling from the point of her gold nib, pale blue ink dissolved the full stop; for there her pen stuck; her eyes fixed, and tears slowly filled them.

2. The bill or beak of a bird; the neb.
3. Bits of trapped dust or other foreign material that form imperfections in painted or varnished surfaces.
4. A piece of a roasted, hulled cocoa bean.
5. A small and pointed thing or part; a point; a prong.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus

     the little nib or fructifying principle

6. One of the handles projecting from a scythe snath.
7. The shaft of a wagon.

Synonyms

• (handle projecting from a scythe snath): thole

Derived terms

• denib

Translations

Verb

nib (third-person singular simple present nibs, present participle nibbing, simple past and past participle nibbed)

1. (transitive) To fit (a pen) with a nib.

Anagrams

• BNI, NBI, bin, ibn

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Etymology 1

Probably from fable; compare fibble-fable (“nonsense”).

Noun

fib (plural fibs)

1. (informal) A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.
   • 1878, Henry James, The Europeans Volume 1 Chapter 6

     I am told they are very sincere; they don't tell fibs.

2. (informal, rare) A liar.

Synonyms

• (lie): See Thesaurus:lie

Translations

Verb

fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)

1. (informal, intransitive) To lie, especially more or less inconsequentially.

Translations

Derived terms

• fibber
• fibbery
• fibster

See also

• pilfer

References

• fib in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913. (etymology)
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “fib”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology 2

Shortened from fibula.

Noun

fib (plural fibs)

1. (medicine, informal) The fibula.

See also

• tib

Etymology 3

Verb

fib (third-person singular simple present fibs, present participle fibbing, simple past and past participle fibbed)

1. (archaic, thieves' cant, boxing) To punch, especially a series of punches in rapid succession; to beat; to hit; to strike.

Synonyms

• pummel

Derived terms

• fibbing (“pummelling”)
• fibbing-gloak
• fibbing-match

References

• Farmer, John Stephen (1891) Slang and Its Analogues?^[3], volume 2, page 387

Etymology 4

Short for Fibonacci.

Noun

fib (plural fibs)

1. (neologism) A kind of experimental poem where the number of syllables in each line is the next succeeding Fibonacci number.

Anagrams

• BFI, BIF, FBI, IBF, bif

Volapük

Noun

fib (nominative plural fibs)

1. weakness

Declension

Derived terms

• fibot