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Rib vs Stiffener - What's the difference?

rib | stiffener |

As nouns the difference between rib and stiffener

is that rib is any of a series of long curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and other animals and extending from the spine to or toward the sternum while stiffener is anything added to something in order to stiffen it, such as a support beam, or starch for a collar.

As a verb rib

is to shape, support, or provide something with a rib or ribs.

rib

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any of a series of long curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and other animals and extending from the spine to or toward the sternum
  • A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something
  • A cut of meat enclosing one or more rib bones
  • (label) Any of several curved members attached to a ship's keel and extending upward and outward to form the framework of the hull
  • Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength
  • (label) A long, narrow, usually arched member projecting from the surface of a structure, especially such a member separating the webs of a vault
  • (label) A raised ridge in knitted material or in cloth
  • (label) The main, or any of the prominent veins of a leaf
  • A teasing joke
  • A single strand of hair.
  • A stalk of celery.

    • Verb

  • To shape, support, or provide something with a rib or ribs
  • To tease or make fun of someone
  • To enclose, as if with ribs, and protect; to shut in.
  • * Shakespeare
  • (label) To leave strips of undisturbed ground between the furrows in ploughing (land).

    • Derived terms

    {{der3, chuck rib , middle rib , ribcage , rib eye , ribgrass , rib-tickler , ribwort , spare rib , ribbed vault , grey rib}}

    Anagrams

    * * * ----

    stiffener

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything added to something in order to stiffen it, such as a support beam, or starch for a collar.
  • *1856: Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life & Every-day People [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02734176&id=SrTVMMbCz6cC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=stiffener&as_brr=1]
  • *:... he wears a wisp of black silk round his neck, without any stiffener, as an apology for a neckerchief...
  • *1901: James Nisbit Hazlehurst, Towers and Tanks for Water-works: The Theory and Practice of Their Design and Construction [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03852204&id=YcmwlV8r9vsC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=stiffener&as_brr=1]
  • *:...each of these stiffener'-columns must be designed to resist approximately 26 tons. Sometimes single angles are thus used as ' stiffeners ...
  • *1904: Edward L. Attwood, War-ships: A Text-book on the Construction, Protection, Stability, Turning, Etc., of War Vessels [http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN05000778&id=DjcOQwPkxX0C&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=stiffener&as_brr=1]
  • *:The tee bar (b) is used as a stiffener to important bulkheads...