Floating ribs are four atypical ribs (two lowermost pairs, XI-XII) in the human ribcage. They are called so because they are attached to the vertebrae only, and not to the sternum or cartilage coming off the sternum. Some people are missing one of the two pairs. Others have a third pair. Most, however, possess two pairs.
Their position can be permanently altered by a form of body modification called tightlacing, which uses a corset to compress and move the ribs.
Famous quotes containing the words floating and/or rib:
“We sank a foot deep in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees, and the trail was almost obliterated, being no more than that a musquash leaves in similar places, where he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a musquash trail in some places.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Though shoulder, bosom, lip, and knee
Are praised in every kind of art,
Here is love’s true anatomy:
His rib is gone; he’ll have her heart.”
—John Hollander (b. 1929)