Naut. Also 7 gib, 9 gibb, jibb: see also GYBE. [Etymology obscure; the same sense is expressed by Da. gibbe, Sw. dial. gippa; cf. also Du. gijpen, Ger. giepen, prob. from a LG. original. But, as in GYBE v., the phonetic change of (g) to (dʓ) is unexplained.]
1. trans. To pull (a sail or yard) round from one side of the vessel to the other, as in tacking, etc.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 126. The place and fitting of the Shrowd so as to make way for the gibbing of the Yards.
1776. Cook, 2nd Voy., II. iii. (1842), I. 426. In changing tacks, they have only occasion to shift or jib round the sail.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1863), 15. It could be hooked and unhooked, as need were, when she tacked and it became necessary to jib the sail.
1865. Examiner, 18 March, 163/2. A movement of the boys when the boat was jibbing her sail may have upset her.
2. intr. Of a sail, etc.: To shift or swing round from one side of a vessel to the other; = GYBE v. 1.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. ii. The Boom gibbed over the Top of the Cabin.
1804. Naval Chron., XI. 169. The sail gibbed, the boat upset.
1831. Capt. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, II. 199. I saw the Boston schooner’s main-sail jib.
b. transf. Of other things: To swing round.
1891. Daily News, 23 July, 7/2. The arm of the crane could swing round, or gibb, on each side, and deliver the stone on a truck.
