cribbing

C3R1I1B3B3I1N1G2
/ˈkɹɪbɪŋ/

noun

The members used to build a (structural) crib, usually of timbers or logs, but also of concrete, steel or even plastic; cribwork.

“After the Loma Prieta earthquake, they had to put cribbing under portions of San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway, for fear it would collapse.”

UncommonScrabble 15

Meanings

verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of crib
nouncribbing (countable and uncountable, plural cribbings)

plural cribbings

  1. countableuncountableThe members used to build a (structural) crib, usually of timbers or logs, but also of concrete, steel or even plastic; cribwork.
  2. countableuncountableAs a whole, the heavy structure built to support an existing structure from underneath, as with a mineshaft or when raising a building off its foundation, as for moving to another location,

    After the Loma Prieta earthquake, they had to put cribbing under portions of San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway, for fear it would collapse.

    1 more example

    US Army Corps of Engineers site If the structure is to be raised in place without relocation, once it is raised to the desired elevation the jacks are replaced with timber cribbing.

  3. countableuncountableThe cribbing used to support anything from below or on a side, as with a retaining wall, or to prop up a piece of heavy machinery.
  4. countableuncountableethologyequestrianismA self-injurious tendency of certain horses to swallow air while slobbering and biting onto objects in and about their enclosure; cribbing and windsucking are regarded as equine forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
  5. countableuncountableAn act of plagiarism.

    […] cribbings from Leonardo's notebooks […]

    1976, Bernice Rose, Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), Drawing Now (issue 2, page 19)

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Translations

Finnish puunpurenta
  • puunpurentaself-injurious tendency of certain horses
Japanese 齰癖
  • 齰癖 (sakuheki)self-injurious tendency of certain horses

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with cribbing

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

cribbing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cribbing

MLA

“cribbing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cribbing. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cribbing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cribbing.

Source: cribbing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.