false rib

noun

Anatomy.

any of the lower five ribs on either side of the body, which are not directly attached to the sternum.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of false rib¹

First recorded in 1490–1500

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"In the right side, my lord; but, fortunately, towards the lower false rib."

From

We have long been derided and scoffed at for making connubialism marketable, and putting a price on a wife's infidelity, but it strikes me this is something worse; for what, after all, is a rib—a false rib, too—compared with the whole bony skeleton?

From

false relation false ribs

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