Etymology Attested since the 1660s, of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to jib (“shift or swing around”) (see below).
1
Nautical, Transport A triangular staysail set forward of the foremast. In a sloop (see image) the basic jib reaches back roughly to the level of the mast.
Release the line by pulling down and unfurl the jib by pulling on the two jibsheets.(Can we date this quote?), “RS Quest Rigging Instructions”, in California State University, Sacramento, page 2:
2
Nautical, TransportUsually, With a modifier Any of a variety of specialty triangular staysails set forward of the foremast.
Etymology Attested since the 1680s (also spelled jibe and gybe), perhaps from Dutch gijben (a variant of gijpen (“to turn sails suddenly”), whence certainly the form jibe) or else from Danish gibbe (“jib, jibe”), related to Swedish gippa (“jib, jibe, jerk, make jump”). Compare also Middle High German gempeln (“to spring”), Swedish guppa (“to move up and down”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump, spring”). See jump.
1
Nautical, Transport To shift, or swing around, as a sail, boom, yard, etc., as in tacking.
An object that is used for performing tricks while skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, in-line skating, or biking. These objects are usually found in a terrain park or skate park.
Whipping around I saw Herman with a stunned expression on his jib.2017, Al Kent, Custodians of the Hummingbird, page 491:
jib
verb
Etymology Uncertain, perhaps related to jib (“shift or swing around”) (see above).
1
To stop and refuse to go forward (usually of a horse).
“Who calls, who calls?” cried Essper; a shout was the only answer. There was no path, but the underwood was low, and Vivian took his horse, an old forester, across it with ease. Essper’s jibbed.1826, Benjamin Disraeli, Vivian Grey, London: Henry Colburn, published 1827, Volume 4, Book 6, page 73:
Then he got fever, and had to be carried in a hammock slung under a pole. As he weighed sixteen stone I had no end of rows with the carriers. They jibbed, ran away, sneaked off with their loads in the night—quite a mutiny.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:
3 more examples
The lama jibbed at the open door of a crowded third-class carriage. ‘Were it not better to walk?’ said he weakly.1901, Rudyard Kipling, chapter 2, in Kim:
"Where are we going?" she asked, jibbing capriciously in the descent.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 119:
“Juno has a kindly gait. She neither jibs nor shies, though she will take a fence no more. […]”1989, Jack Vance, chapter 8, in Madouc:
“What say you to the young lady herself?” said Craigengelt; “the finest young woman in all Scotland, one that you used to be so fond of when she was cross, and now she consents to have you, and gives up her engagement with Ravenswood, you are for jibbing. I must say, the devil’s in ye, when ye neither know what you would have nor what you would want.”1819, Walter Scott, chapter 28, in The Bride of Lammermoor:
I hadn't much chance of buying a practice or dropping into a partnership worth having and I jibbed at setting up in some God-forsaken backwater and slipping into middle age 'building up a connection.'1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:
2 more examples
Some of us began to jib when the family began to collect portraits of their new son to decorate their walls […].1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, pages 401–2:
The Parlement scarcely jibbed.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 318:
Forgetting that the jibs, whom they insulted, were afterwards to grow into the influential men […]1840, The University Magazine: A Literary and Philosophic Review, page 133:
[I]n a healthy environment, young Mahoney might have taken the risk, both with University and, in part, with entering the Aula for the jibs dance.2014, Peter Guy, As Mirrors Are Lonely, page 115: