was the most amazed when he saw me work the boat to and again in the sea by the rudder, and how the sail jibed, and filled this way or that way as the course we sailed changed—

Daniel Defoe

the cutter had lost all four foremost men by the violent jibing of a boom—

Herman Melville

: to change a vessel's course when sailing with the wind so that as the stern passes through the eye of the wind the boom swings to the opposite side

transitive verb

: to cause (a sail or vessel) to jibe

this maneuver was bound to force her to jibe her mainsail from one side to the other—

Jack London

jibe noun

or less commonly gybe

Did you know?

Jive vs. Jibe

People began confusing jive and jibe almost immediately after jive entered our language in the late 1920s. In particular, jive is often used as a variant for the sense of jibe meaning “agree,” as in “that doesn’t jive with my memory of what happened.” This use of jive, although increasingly common, is widely considered to be an error. Jibe, however, is accepted as a variant spelling of an entirely different word, which is gibe (“to utter taunting words”).

Examples of jibe in a Sentence

Verb (1) that doesn't jibe with what I know about his character

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Verb

Scale the projection to jibe with the average duration of 6.1 games over the last decade, and Fox is out around $91.6 million if the Dodgers break out the Swiffers. —

Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 29 Oct. 2024 Alas, his plans for his future may not jibe with those envisioned by (ahem) his mother’s special friend, Hansu (Lee Min-ho) — as seen in TVLine’s exclusive sneak peek above. —

Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 10 Oct. 2024 That jibes with another previous cause Saie was involved in. —

James Manso, WWD, 23 Sep. 2024 But songs like these just didn’t jibe with the atmosphere. —

Michaelangelo Matos, Rolling Stone, 17 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for jibe

Word History

Etymology

Verb (1)

origin unknown

Verb (3)

perhaps modification of Dutch gijben

First Known Use

Verb (1)

1813, in the meaning defined above

Verb (3)

1693, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of jibe was in 1693

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Jibe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jibe. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

jibe

1 of 3 verb

variants or gybe

jibed or gybed; jibing or gybing

: to shift suddenly from one side to the other

: to cause a sail to jibe

jibe

2 of 3

variant of gibe

jibe

3 of 3 verb

jibed; jibing

: to be in agreement

the two reports jibed

Etymology

Verb

perhaps a modified form of Dutch gijben "to shift suddenly from one side to another"

Verb

origin unknown

Last Updated: 1 Nov 2024 - Updated example sentences

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jibe

verb (1)

verb (2)

verb (3)

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Synonyms

Examples of jibe in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near jibe

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition