1. Also called: crib-biting, wind-sucking Veterinary Science
an injurious habit in which a horse bites its manger and as a result swallows air
2. Mining
a.
a timber lining, closely spaced, as in a shaft or raise
b.
pieces of timber for lining a shaft, raise, etc
3. Building & Civil Engineering
a system of cribs, as for retaining earth or for a building or the like being moved or having its foundations rebuilt
Word origin
[1635–45; crib + -ing1]This word is first recorded in the period 1635–45. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cascade, focus, linear, naturalism, sympathetic-ing is a suffix of nouns formed from verbs, expressing the action of the verb or itsresult, product, material, etc. (the art of building; a new building; cotton wadding). It is also used to form nouns from words other than verbs (offing; shirting). Verbal nouns ending in -ing are often used attributively (the printing trade) and in forming compounds (drinking song). In some compounds (sewing machine), the first element might reasonably be regarded as the participial adjective, -ing, the compound thus meaning “a machine that sews,” but it is commonly taken as a verbalnoun, the compound being explained as “a machine for sewing”
Examples of 'cribbing' in a sentence
cribbing
I plunged straight in - no cheating by cribbing here - and, happily, passed, getting a score of 30 out of 35.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
A decade ago, she began cribbing from the life of someone real, someone dear to her heart: her grandmother.