Library / English Dictionary

JIB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: jibbed    , jibbing   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any triangular fore-and-aft sail (set forward of the foremast)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("jib" is a kind of...):

fore-and-aft sail (any sail not set on a yard and whose normal position is in a fore-and-aft direction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "jib"):

flying jib (the outermost of two or more jibs)

Derivation:

jib (shift from one side of the ship to the other)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shift from one side of the ship to the other

Example:

The sail jibbed wildly

Synonyms:

change course; gybe; jib; jibe

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "jib" is one way to...):

sail (travel on water propelled by wind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

jib (any triangular fore-and-aft sail (set forward of the foremast))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Refuse to comply

Synonyms:

balk; baulk; jib; resist

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "jib" is one way to...):

disobey (refuse to go along with; refuse to follow; be disobedient)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Having taken the pirate captain prisoner, sailed slap over the schooner, whose decks were piled high with dead and whose lee scuppers ran blood, for the order had been 'Cutlasses, and die hard!' 'Bosun's mate, take a bight of the flying-jib sheet, and start this villain if he doesn't confess his sins double quick,' said the British captain.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Better reef the jib and mainsail too, while you’re about it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit when the flying jib flapped and filled upon the other tack, with a report like a gun.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I must get the jib backed over.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The jibs behind me cracked aloud, the rudder slammed to, the whole ship gave a sickening heave and shudder, and at the same moment the main-boom swung inboard, the sheet groaning in the blocks, and showed me the lee after-deck.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Stand by to let that jib over, you Oofty!” Wolf Larsen commanded, the very second we had finished with the boat.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“And stand by to back over the jibs.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But through it all I clung to the one idea—_I must get the jib backed over to windward_.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Back we held, two miles and more to windward of the struggling cockle-shell, when the flying jib was run down and the schooner hove to.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I ran forward and had the downhaul of the flying jib all in and fast as we slipped by the boat a hundred feet to leeward.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)