Uncertain; possibly fromOld Frenchgiber(“to engage in horseplay; to play roughly in sport”). CompareEnglishjib(“usually of a horse: to stop and refuse to go forward”),[1]Old Norsegeipa(“to talk nonsense”).
The noun is derived from the verb.[2]
jibe (pluraljibes)
- Afacetious orinsultingremark; ajeer, ataunt.
He flung subtlejibes at her until she couldn’t bear to work with him any longer.
c.1599–1602 (date written),William Shakespeare,The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] forN[icholas] L[ing] […], published1604,→OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:Alas pooreYoricke,[…] where be yourgibes now? your gamboles? your ſongs? your flaſhes of merriment, that were wont to ſet the table on a roare, not one now to mocke your owne grinning, quitechopfalne.
1746,[Charles Macklin],King Henry the VII: Or the Popish Impostor. A Tragedy. […], London: Printed for R. Francklin, […];R[obert] Dodsley, […]; and J. Brotherton, […],→OCLC, act II, scene i,page24:Come, come, we / All are Friends, nor have we Time forJibe, / Or Anger now, but 'gainſt our common Foes, / TheFrench andScot; there let your Pray'rs, and Jeſts, / And Blows, be levell’d.
1920 April,F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “Amory, Son of Beatrice”, inThis Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.:Charles Scribner’s Sons,→OCLC, book I (The Romantic Egotist),page26:He had written two novels: one of them violently anti-Catholic, just before his conversion, and five years later another, in which he had attempted to turn all his cleverjibes against Catholics into even cleverer innuendoes against Episcopalians.
1975 October 27,Jeff Greenfield, “Ragged but Funny”, inNew York, volume 8, number43, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Company,→ISSN,→OCLC,page65, column 3:[George] Carlin's opening-night monologue included some bluntgibes at organized religion which would almost certainly have been cut out of any other network show.
facetious or insulting remark
- Bulgarian:подигравка (bg) f(podigravka),насмешка (bg) f(nasmeška),укор (bg) m(ukor),упрек (bg) m(uprek)
- Czech:posměšek m,posměšná poznámka
- Georgian:დაცინვა(dacinva),გამასხარავება(gamasxaraveba),აბუჩად აგდება(abučad agdeba)
- German:Spöttelei (de) f,spöttische Bemerkung f,Stichelei (de) f
- Greek:
- Ancient:σκῶμμα n(skômma)
- Icelandic:hnjóðsyrði (is) n
- Macedonian:потсмев m(potsmev)
- Maori:takao,tīkai
- Ottoman Turkish:لطیفه(latife)
- Russian:упрёк (ru) m(uprjók)
- Spanish:cuchufleta (es),puya (es)
- Swedish:gliring (sv) c
- Welsh:edliw (cy) m
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jibe (third-person singular simple presentjibes,present participlejibing,simple past and past participlejibed)
- (transitive) Toreproach withcontemptuouswords; toderide, tomock, totaunt.
- Synonym:flout
c.1606–1607 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene ii],page346, column 1:[Y]ou / Did pocket vp my Letters: and with taunts / Didgibe myMiſive out of audience.
1714,John Arbuthnot,A Farther Continuation of the History of the Crown-Inn: Part III. Containing the Present State of the Inn, and Other Particulars[1], 2nd edition, London: Printed for J. Moor, […],→OCLC, archived fromthe original on10 March 2019,page15:We could hardly speak before for fear of ourTaskmasters; but we dare now Nose those Villains that used togibe us.
a.1746,[Jonathan] Swift, “A Character, Panegyrick, and Description of the Legion Club”, inMiscellanies, 5th edition, volume X, London: Printed for T. Woodward, C. Davis, C. Bathurst, andW[illiam] Bowyer, published1751,→OCLC,pages227–228:How I want thee, hum'rousHogarth! / Thou, I hear, a pleaſant Rogue art; /[…] / Draw the Beaſts as I deſcribe them, / From their Features, while Igibe them.
- (transitive) Tosay in amocking ortauntingmanner.
1936 June 30,Margaret Mitchell, chapter VI, inGone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company,→OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company,1944,→OCLC, part I,page121:Scarlett felt her heart begin its mad racing again and she clutched her hand against it unconsciously, as if she would squeeze it into submission. "Eavesdroppers often hear highly instructive things,"jibed a memory.
- (intransitive) To make a mockingremark or remarks; tojeer.
c.1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e.,William Shakespeare],A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] forCut[h]bert Burby, published1598,→OCLC; republished asShakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles;no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […],[1880],→OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:Why thats the way to choake agibing ſpirrit, / Whoſe influence is begot of that looſe grace, / Which ſhallow laughing hearers giue to fooles,[…]
1722 (indicated as1721), [Daniel Defoe],The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published1722,→OCLC,page 7:This ſet the old Gentlevvoman a Laughing at me, as you may be ſure it vvould: VVell, Madam, Forſooth, ſays ſhe,Gibing at me, you vvould be a Gentlevvoman, and hovv vvill you come to be a Gentlevvoman? VVhat vvill you do it by your Fingers Ends?
1730,Jonathan Swift, “To Betty the Grizete”, inThe Poetical Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published1794,→OCLC; republished inRobert Anderson, editor,The Works of the British Poets. […], volume IX, London: Printed for John & Arthur Arch; and for Bell & Bradfute, and J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh,1795,→OCLC,page128, column 2:Thus with talents well endu'd / To be ſcurrilous and rude; / When you pertly raiſe your ſnout, / Fleer andgibe, and laugh and flout;[…]
1928,Radclyffe Hall, chapter 27, inThe Well of Loneliness, London:Jonathan Cape,→OCLC; republished Ware, Hertfordshire:Wordsworth Editions,2005,→ISBN, book 2, section I,page182:But now her mother was speaking again: 'And this – read this and tell me if you wrote it, or if that man's lying.' And Stephen must read her own miseryjibing at her from those pages in Ralph Crossby's stiff and clerical handwriting.
to reproach with contemptuous words
to say in a mocking or taunting manner
to make a mocking remark or remarks
Origin unknown; perhaps related tochime(“to cause to sound in harmony”).[3]
jibe (third-person singular simple presentjibes,present participlejibing,simple past and past participlejibed)
- (intransitive, Canada, US, informal) Toaccord oragree.
That explanation doesn’tjibe with the facts.
1926 May 13, Henry H. Glassie (witness), “Statement of Henry H. Glassie, Member of United States Tariff Commission”, inInvestigation of theTariff Commission: Hearings before the Select Committee on Investigation of the Tariff Commission,United States Senate, Sixty-ninthCongress, First Session […] Part 1 […], Washington, D.C.:Government Printing Office,→OCLC,page529:[T]here is something wrong with your figures. They do notjibe with experience. They do notjibe with prices. They do notjibe with what we know.
1980,George Lakoff,Mark Johnson, chapter 27, inMetaphors We Live By:This did notjibe with the objectivist view that metaphor is of only peripheral interest in an account of meaning and truth and that it plays at best a marginal role in understanding.
Jibe andjive have been used interchangeably in the US to indicate the concept “to accord or agree”. While one recent dictionary accepts this usage ofjive, most sources consider it to be in error.
Seegybe.
jibe (pluraljibes)
- (nautical, now chiefly US)Alternative spelling ofgybe
jibe (third-person singular simple presentjibes,present participlejibing,simple past and past participlejibed)
- (nautical, now chiefly US)Alternative spelling ofgybe
- ^“gibe, jibe,v.”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1899;“jibe”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022. - ^“gibe, jibe,n.1”, inOED Online, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1899.
- ^“jibe,v.”, inOED Online, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1901.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1899;“jibe”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.