lib

See also: Lib, LIB, līb, lib., and 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)

1. (politics) liberal

   own the libs

2. liberation

   women's lib

3. library
4. libertarian

Further reading

• lib on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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”).

Noun

lib (plural libs)

1. (UK dialectal, Scotland) A potion; magic potion; charm; concoction.

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)

1. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To geld; castrate; emasculate (usually said of animals).

Related terms

• glib
• libbert
• libbet

Anagrams

• BLI, bil

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪp]
• Rhymes: -ɪp

Verb

lib

1. second-person singular imperative of líbit

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French libre (“free”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lib/

Adjective

lib

1. free
2. unoccupied
3. loose (in morals)

Related terms

• libète

References

• Targète, Jean and Urciolo, Raphael G. Haitian Creole-English dictionary (1993; →ISBN)

Irish

Pronoun

lib

1. Galway form of libh

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *līb.

Noun

līb m or n

1. life
2. livelihood
3. body
4. monastic life

Declension

Masculine declension:

Declension of līb (masculine a-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	līb	lība
accusative	līb	lība
genitive	lībes	lībo
dative	lībe	lībum
instrumental	lību	—

Neuter declension:

Declension of līb (neuter a-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	līb	līb
accusative	līb	līb
genitive	lībes	lībo
dative	lībe	lībum
instrumental	lību	—

Derived terms

• guotwerklib

Descendants

• Middle High German: līp, līph, līf, līb
  • Alemannic German: Liib
  • Central Franconian: Liev, Leiv

    Hunsrik: Leib

    Luxembourgish: Läif, Leif

  • Cimbrian: laip
  • German: Leib
  • Vilamovian: łaowa
  • Yiddish: לײַב (layb)

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʲivʲ/

Pronoun

lib

1. 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. 14^a8

     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.

Volapük

Noun

lib (nominative plural libs)

1. freedom

Declension

declension of lib

	singular	plural
nominative	lib	libs
genitive	liba	libas
dative	libe	libes
accusative	libi	libis
vocative 1	o lib!	o libs!
predicative 2	libu	libus

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only