Lib

//ˈlɪb// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    liberal countable, uncountable

    "own the libs"

  2. 2
    A potion; magic potion; charm; concoction. Scotland, UK, dialectal
  3. 3
    A member of the Liberal Party of Australia. Australian
  4. 4
    Abbreviation of lithium-ion battery. abbreviation, alt-of
  5. 5
    liberation countable, uncountable

    "women's lib"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Canadian

    "The same people will have you believe that François Legault — a man who calls himself “prime minister of the Quebec nation” — would gladly watch his beloved nation’s hospital system crumble just to own the Libs."

  2. 7
    library countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    libertarian countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To geld; castrate; emasculate (usually said of animals). Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The Libertarian party. US
  2. 2
    Abbreviation of Liberal Party.; Abbreviation of Liberal Party. Canada, abbreviation, alt-of
  3. 3
    The astrological sign, Libra.
  4. 4
    Abbreviation of Liberal Party.; Abbreviation of Liberal Democrat Party. UK, abbreviation, alt-of
  5. 5
    Abbreviation of Libertarian Party. abbreviation, alt-of
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    Abbreviation of Libertarian Party.; Abbreviation of Libertarian Party. US, abbreviation, alt-of

Synonyms

All synonyms
indliberal partylpclpcothpotion

Example

More examples

"She played a part in the women's lib movement."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Abbreviation for various words beginning in lib-.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English libbe, from Old English lybb, lyb (“medicine, drug, potion, poison, charm”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubi, from Proto-Germanic *lubją (“wort, herb, drug, poison”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *lewb- (“to peel, break, damage”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to cut, remove, prune, separate”). Cognate with German Luppe, Lüppe (“salve, ointment, plant juice, medicine, magic”), Icelandic lyf (“medicine, drug”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English *libben (suggested by libbyng (“gelding”), lybbere (“gelder”)), related to Dutch lubben (“to castrate, emasculate”), Dutch libbe (“a steer”), lubbert (“a eunuch”). Further relation uncertain. Possibly related to Old English *lybban (“to doctor”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubbjan; or perhaps related to Old English lappa, læppa (“lappet, piece, section, lobe, portion, district”). More at lop.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.