Gibs

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Fragments of a character's body scattered after being violently destroyed in video games; small pieces of metal, usually from machinery or explosions; a slang term in gaming culture referring to the remains left after a kill
2. Shattered body parts displayed in certain game genres following an intense defeat; tiny metallic debris resulting from mechanical breakage; colloquial jargon used among gamers to describe digital remains after combat
3. Remnants of digital avatars left behind after violent in-game deaths; miniature metal shards produced by physical damage to equipment; informal gaming lingo denoting leftover pieces after an opponent's destruction

Etymology: The word "gibs" is a clipping of "gibsmedat," a caricatured version of African American Vernacular English eye dialect for "give me that," which was used in gaming circles as a shouted demand for an item. Gamers gradually shortened the phrase, and the clipped form came to name the loot itself. The word's other root is "giblets," the edible internal organs of poultry. The meaning moved from that sense of small, scattered parts to the bits of a body torn apart in a game. Its use in games with dramatic violence is where the term became most familiar.

Synonyms: jib parts, machine parts