ribbing

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a framework of ribs
noun the act of harassing someone playfully or maliciously (especially by ridicule); provoking someone with persistent annoyances
verb form vertical ribs by knitting

From rib (“tease”, verb) + -ing; from the common practice of tickling the ribs to cause laughter.

And Paddy had said, “I had red ribbing on mine bee-fore!” And Johnny had said, “It’s always pink on mine. — The Garden Party, and Other Stories, Katherine Mansfield
Pinner says she's always about your trinket-box and drawers, and everybody's drawers, and she's sure she's put your white ribbing into her box." — Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
It was strange to observe how their vapour and breath, and the moisture exuding from their wool had scooped, as it were, a coved room for them, lined with a ribbing of deep yellow snow. — Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor, R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

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