re·bus / ˈrēbəs/ • n. (pl. -bus·es) a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by a letter X. ∎  hist. an ornamental device associated with a person to whose name it punningly alludes.

REBUS. A device that uses letters, numbers, or pictures to represent WORDS: for example, MT used to mean empty; B4 to mean before. The rebus is usually a puzzle that demands some lateral thinking to decipher it, as in MIN (half a minute) and CCCCCCC (the Seven Seas). The idea is as old as Egyptian hieroglyphics and came into English in the Middle Ages in heraldic devices and pictorial representations of names.

Rebus (Newspaper)

The first Spiritualist periodical in Russia, founded in 1881, that, owing to the antagonism of the authorities to Spiritualism, was professedly devoted to rebuses and charades. It was commenced by Captain (later Admiral) Victor Ivanovitch Pribytkoff, and it was largely financed by Alexander Aksakof.

rebus. Enigmatical representation of a name, or graphic pun on the name of a person connected with a building, usually in the carved ornamentation, as in the Alcock Chantry Chapel in Ely Cathedral, Cambs. (1488–1501), with its many representations of cockerels.

rebus a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by a letter X.