Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a liberty; often. in pl.; usu. as take libs.

1901		B. Pain De Omnibus 128: I shud punch yer fat ’ead off at the root [...] fur tikin’ of a lib with my liquor.
1906		E. Pugh Spoilers 164: ‘Wust o’ women,’ he said bitterly. ‘Treat ’em kind an’ they take libs.’.
1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 123: It’s a downright fucking lib (liberty).
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 220: You look like a complete jow, a cunt, in front of everybody and then people really start taking libs.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 49: Sonny and Morty might take a few libs but I’m not in the same category.

2. (US) a left-wing person.

1982		(con. 1969) J. Ehrlichman Witness to Power 123: Nixon was under great political pressure to nominate a ‘lib’ (that [...] was a euphemism for a ‘Jew’ when you’re talking about the Court).
2005		D. Jenkins Slim & None 88: The so-called Rebel flag? Libs love it when they see it on redneck pickups— like it was invented in the Sixties [...] your terminal libs love to compare it to the swastika.
2014		D. Jenkins His Ownself 43: ‘You’re my favorite kind of lib’.

3. a supporter of women’s liberation.

1977

J. Waring Hot Air 41: We all wore bras religiously in those days, libs or no libs!

4. (orig. US) liberation, usu. in gender political contexts and thus abbr. for ‘liberation movement’, e.g. Women’s Lib, Gay Lib.

1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 160: I funk Women’s Lib.
1971		Aus. Women’s Wkly 22 Dec. 105/1: The Lib ladies claim whistling is just another example of male chauvinist piggishness.
1977		in K. Gilbert Living Black 21: I can only identify with the idea of lib for the whole people.
1977		J. Olsen Secret of Fire Five 29: Plummer put a sticker on his bumper, support gay lib.
1981		Burbridge & Walters Breaking the Silence 23: I am against all these demonstrations and Gay Lib campaigns — it’s not necessary.
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 30: I hate all this women’s lib stuff, don’t you?
1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself (1985) 95: Rita has a partner in the restaurant, Amanda. It’s kind of a Lib thing.
1990		Crow Dog & Erdoes Lakota Woman 69: They had to fight their own men’s lib battles.
1999		J. Baker Walking With Ghosts (2000) 13: Joan’s something big in Women’s Lib now.
2000		J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 42: Are gay men just recreating the pre-women’s lib male world, only more so?