Also jibb, rarely gib. [A recent word of uncertain derivation: not in Todd 1818, Webster 1828, or Craig 1847. Thought by Forby (a 1825) to be transf. from the jibbing of a sail, and so to be identical with JIB v.1 But this is very doubtful.
Jib has a curious resemblance to OF. and mod. dial. F. giber to kick, sometimes said of horses; whence regiber (mod.F. regimber), early ME. regibben in Ancr. R., to kick as a wanton beast; but it is not possible to connect jib historically with these words.]
1. intr. Of a horse or other animal in harness: To stop and refuse to go on; to move restively backwards or sideways instead of going on; to balk stubbornly.
1811. Jane Austen, Lett. (1884), II. 95. The horses actually gibbed on this side of Hyde Park Gate.
1816. Scott, Antiq., ii. Miss Grizie Oldbuck was sometimes apt to jibb when he pulled the reins too tight.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Jib, to start suddenly and violently aside, generally from the collar; and to refuse to draw, or to go forward. It is said of a horse metaphorically from the jibbing of a sail.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VI. ii. The horses have jibbed, and will not stir.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 48. In the best regulated teams it must happen that some one will occasionally start, gib, and bolt.
2. transf. and fig. a. To stop short in some action; to refuse to proceed or advance; to draw back, back out.
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 139. Nanny jibbed a bit in the twelfth round.
1827. Scott, Jrnl., 16 March. I had settled to finish the review, when, behold … I jibb’d.
1845. Empson, Lett., in Select. Corr. M. Napier (1879), 487. Many Whigs, however, will jib from fear of their constituents.
1894. Sir E. Sullivan, Woman, 110. When there is no compulsion there is no gibbing.
b. To start aside; to shy at.
1882. T. A. Guthrie, Vice Versâ, vi. 123. The boys taking the parts of ladies jibbing away from their partners in a highly unlady-like fashion.
1896. ‘Ouida,’ Massarenes, xv. There are people who jib at you still, you know; when once you were one of us, they wouldn’t dare.
Hence Jibbing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1844. Alb. Smith, Adv. Mr. Ledbury, xlii. (1886), 130. The playful vagaries of jibbing horses.
1861. G. F. Berkeley, Sportsm. W. Prairies, xv. 247. A succession of jibbings and rearings.
1862. Whyte-Melville, Ins. Bar, x. (ed. 12), 363. A backward swain is like a jibbing horse.
