joke vs rib

joke

noun
  • An amusing story. 

  • The root cause or main issue, especially an unexpected one 

  • A laughably worthless thing or person; a sham. 

  • Something that is far easier or far less challenging than expected. 

  • Something said or done for amusement, not in seriousness. 

verb
  • To do or say something for amusement rather than seriously. 

  • To dupe in a friendly manner for amusement; to mess with, play with. 

rib

noun
  • A teasing joke. 

  • A cut of meat enclosing one or more rib bones. 

  • A long, narrow, usually arched member projecting from the surface of a structure, especially such a member separating the webs of a vault 

  • A stalk of celery. 

  • A single strand of hair. 

  • Any of several transverse pieces that provide an aircraft wing with shape and strength. 

  • The main, or any of the prominent veins of a leaf. 

  • Watercress (Nasturtium officinale). 

  • A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something. 

  • A raised ridge in knitted material or in cloth. 

  • Any of several curved members attached to a ship's keel and extending upward and outward to form the framework of the hull. 

  • Any of a series of long curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and other animals and extending from the spine to or toward the sternum. 

  • Hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale). 

  • Costmary (Tanacetum balsamita). 

verb
  • To enclose, as if with ribs, and protect; to shut in. 

  • To leave strips of undisturbed ground between the furrows in ploughing (land). 

  • To tease or make fun of someone in a good-natured way. 

  • To shape, support, or provide something with a rib or ribs. 

How often have the words joke and rib occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )