Dictionary

midrib en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈmɪdrɪb/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *me Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰe Proto-Indo-European *médʰi Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos Proto-Germanic *midjaz Proto-West Germanic *midi Old English midd Middle English mid English mid English mid- English rib English midrib From mid- + rib.

Meanings

1. The strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet.
   • The midribs of the immense leaves form one of the most useful articles in these lands, supplying the place of bamboo, to which for many purposes they are superior. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 117:
2. The continuation of the petiole of a pinnately compound leaf around which the leaflets attach.
3. The shaft of a feather.
   • They first appear as two ordinary feathers, rather shorter than the rest of the tail; the second stage would no doubt be that shown in a specimen of Paradisea apoda, in which the feathers are moderately lengthened, and with the web narrowed in the middle; the third stage is shown by a specimen which has part of the midrib bare, and terminated by a spatulate web; in another the bare midrib is a little dilated and semi-cylindrical, and the terminal web very small; in a fifth, the perfect black horny riband is formed, but it bears at its extremity a brown spatulate web, while in another a portion of the black riband itself bears, for a portion of its length, a narrow brown web. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 389:

Forms

Deriveds

midribbed

Synonyms

middle rib · midvein · midnerve · middle rib · rachis · midvein

Translations (6)

tl tingting (strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet) · pl żyłka (strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet) · mi tuaka (strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet) · mi karawhā (strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet) · bcl gihoy (strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet) · fi keskiruoti (strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet)