A wife: an allusion to our common mother Eve, made out of Adam’s rib. A crooked rib: a cross-grained wife.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Rhino * RibaldryNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes