What does it mean to dream about ribs?
Ribs often point to protection and what you shelter within, the cage around the heart, and sometimes to vulnerability when that guard feels exposed.
Four ways to read it
Each reading below comes from a named tradition and a cited source, so you can see where it came from and decide what fits your dream.
Freud
Freud would read the ribs as the body's frame around the vital organs, tied to defence and to fears of the heart being laid bare. Broken ribs can mark a sense of one's guard being cracked open.
After Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams (Brill trans., 1913), public domain.Jung
Jung would see the ribcage as the protective enclosure around the heart, an image of how the self shields what it holds dearest. Exposed or broken ribs may mark a feeling of being defenceless in some tender place.
Jungian concept (our summary).Modern
Continuity ties ribs to waking concerns about protecting oneself emotionally and to the body when it has been hurt or strained. They often appear when a person feels their defences have been breached.
Continuity hypothesis (our summary).Mythological
An old creation story makes the first woman from a rib, naming the bone a source of companionship drawn from the side. Across traditions the cage of ribs has stood for the keep that guards the seat of life.
Rosmerta Publishing editorial synthesis (after Brewer; Bulfinch).