crib

1. A vault, safe, or strong-box. 2. A house of prostitution; one of a row of shuttered booths in brazenly open prostitution districts. 3. One's living quarters; an apartment. 4. A petty thief. "The crib spent half his life in lag (prison)."

- american underworld dictionary - 1950

the place you stay at is a bona fide crib if it fulfills some of the following criteria:

• it is rarely refused as a place of rest for drunken, estranged, parole-breaking or travelling friends
  
• your refrigerator contains a pitcher used solely for kool-aid, and you are proud to proclaim it as such
  
• curtains hang on at least some of your windows, as opposed to venetian blinds
  
• there is a table and deck of cards available with which to play spades and dominoes
  
• you revel in the exchange of shit talking throughout the duration of these games
  
• you are able to produce phillies (or at least papers) and a tray upon command and would glady do so because it indicates someone else's desire to roll
  
• it is perfectly acceptable for you or your guests to smoke the aforementioned products while lampin' on the front stoop
  
• most importantly: you naturally refer to a person's home as "their crib" and think nothing of it
  

Crib (kr?b), n. [AS. crybb; akin to OS. kribbja, D. krib, kribbe, Dan. krybbe, G. krippe, and perh. to MHG. krebe basket, G, korb, and E. rip a sort of wicker basket.]

1.

A manger or rack; a feeding place for animals.

The steer lion at one crib shall meet. Pope.

2.

A stall for oxen or other cattle.

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean. Prov. xiv. 4.

3.

A small inclosed bedstead or cot for a child.

4.

A box or bin, or similar wooden structure, for storing grain, salt, etc.; as, a crib for corn or oats.

5.

A hovel; a hut; a cottage.

Why rather, Sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, . . . Than in the perfumed chambers of the great? Shak.

6. Mining

A structure or frame of timber for a foundation, or for supporting a roof, or for lining a shaft.

7.

A structure of logs to be anchored with stones; -- used for docks, pier, dams, etc.

8.

A small raft of timber.

[Canada]

9.

A small theft; anything purloined;; a plagiaris; hence, a translation or key, etc., to aid a student in preparing or reciting his lessons.

[Colloq.]

The Latin version technically called a crib. Ld. Lytton.

Occasional perusal of the Pagan writers, assisted by a crib. Wilkie Collins.

10.

A miner's luncheon.

[Cant]

Raymond.

11. Card Playing

The discarded cards which the dealer can use in scoring points in cribbage.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Crib, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Cribbed (kr?bd); p.pr. & vb. n. Cribbing.]

1.

To shut up or confine in a narrow habitation; to cage; to cramp.

If only the vital energy be not cribbed or cramped. I. Taylor.

Now I am cabin'd, cribbed, confined. Shak.

2.

To pilfer or purloin; hence, to steal from an author; to appropriate; to plagiarize; as, to crib a line from Milton.

[Colloq.]

Child, being fond of toys, cribbed the necklace. Dickens.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Crib, v. i.

1.

To crowd together, or to be confined, as in a crib or in narrow accommodations.

[R.]

Who sought to make . . . bishops to crib in a Presbyterian trundle bed. Gauden.

2.

To make notes for dishonest use in recitation or examination.

[College Cant]

3.

To seize the manger or other solid object with the teeth and draw in wind; -- said of a horse.

 

© Webster 1913.