Jib

subs. (colloquial).—1.  The face: THE CUT OF ONE’S JIB = the peculiar or characteristic appearance of a person.

  1824.  SCOTT, St. Ronan’s Well, i. 22. If she disliked what the sailor calls the CUT OF THEIR JIB … none so likely as Meg to give them what in her country is called a ‘sloan.’

  1833.  MARRYAT, Peter Simple, I. ii. I axes you, because I see you’re a sailor by the CUT OF YOUR JIB.

  1838–40.  HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3, S. iv. For I seed by the CUT OF THE feller’s JIB that he was a preacher.

  1836.  M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge. A good seaman evidently, by the CUT OF HIS JIB.

  1881.  R. BUCHANAN, God and the Man, xvi. By the voice of you, by the rigs of you, and by the CUT OF YOUR precious JIB.

  1884.  W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, iii. ‘My democratic wide-awake, and the republican CUT OF MY JIB,’ said he, looking down at his clothes.

  2.  (Dublin university).—A first-year’s man.

  1841.  LEVER, Charles O’Malley, xiv. ‘There [referring to Trinity College Freshmen] … are JIBS, whose names are neither known to the proctor nor the police-office.’

  3.  (vet’s.).—A horse given to shying; a JIBBER.

  1851.  H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. i. p. 189. Frequently young horses that will not work in cabs—such as JIBS—are sold to the horse-slaughterers as useless.

  Verb. (colloquial).—1.  To shirk; TO FUNK (q.v.); TO CUT (q.v.).—Lexicon Balatronicum (1811).

  2.  (common).—To depart; to be off. For synonyms, see AMPUTATE and SKEDADDLE.

  TO BE JIBBED, verb. phr. (Christ’s Hospital).—To be called over the coals; to get into trouble; TO BE TWIGGED (q.v.).

  JIB-OF-JIBS, subs. (nautical).—An impossible sail—a STAR-GAZER (q.v.) or SKY-SCRAPER (q.v.).