Uncertain; possibly from Old French giber (“to engage in horseplay; to play roughly in sport”). Compare English jib (“usually of a horse: to stop and refuse to go forward”), Old Norse geipa (“to talk nonsense”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Meanings
A facetious or insulting remark; a jeer, a taunt.
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 clever jibes against Catholics into even cleverer innuendoes against Episcopalians. 1920 April, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “Amory, Son of Beatrice”, in This Side of Paradise, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book I (The Romantic Egotist), page 26:
He flung subtle jibes at her until she couldn’t bear to work with him any longer.
She ran and ran / As if she feared some goblin man / Dogged her with gibe or curse / Or something worse: […] 1862, Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 24–25:
Come, come, we / All are Friends, nor have we Time for Jibe, / Or Anger now, but 'gainſt our common Foes, / The French and Scot; there let your Pray'rs, and Jeſts, / And Blows, be levell’d. 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, page 24:
Alas poore Yoricke, […] where be your gibes 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, quite chopfalne. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
[George] Carlin's opening-night monologue included some blunt gibes at organized religion which would almost certainly have been cut out of any other network show. 1975 October 27, Jeff Greenfield, “Ragged but Funny”, in New York, volume 8, number 43, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 65, column 3:
He bent to all the gibes and prejudices, to all hatred and discrimination, with that rare courtesy which is the armor of pure souls. 1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, “Of Alexander Crummell”, in The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC, page 226:
es cuchufleta (facetious or insulting remark) · de Spöttelei (facetious or insulting remark) · de spöttische Bemerkung (facetious or insulting remark) · mi takao (facetious or insulting remark) · bg насмешка (facetious or insulting remark) · bg укор (facetious or insulting remark) · ru упрёк (facetious or insulting remark) · is hnjóðsyrði (facetious or insulting remark) · ka გამასხარავება (facetious or insulting remark) · grc σκῶμμα (facetious or insulting remark) · sv gliring (facetious or insulting remark) · bg упрек (facetious or insulting remark) · bg подигравка (facetious or insulting remark) · ka დაცინვა (facetious or insulting remark) · mi tīkai (facetious or insulting remark) · mk потсмев (facetious or insulting remark) · es puya (facetious or insulting remark) · ka აბუჩად აგდება (facetious or insulting remark) · de Stichelei (facetious or insulting remark) · ota لطیفه (facetious or insulting remark) · cs posměšek (facetious or insulting remark) · cs posměšná poznámka (facetious or insulting remark) · cy edliw (facetious or insulting remark)
Uncertain; possibly from Old French giber (“to engage in horseplay; to play roughly in sport”). Compare English jib (“usually of a horse: to stop and refuse to go forward”), Old Norse geipa (“to talk nonsense”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Meanings
(transitive) To reproach with contemptuous words; to deride, to mock, to taunt.
How I want thee, hum'rous Hogarth! / Thou, I hear, a pleaſant Rogue art; / […] / Draw the Beaſts as I deſcribe them, / From their Features, while I gibe them. a. 1746, [Jonathan] Swift, “A Character, Panegyrick, and Description of the Legion Club”, in Miscellanies, 5th edition, volume X, London: Printed for T. Woodward, C. Davis, C. Bathurst, and W[illiam] Bowyer, published 1751, →OCLC, pages 227–228:
We could hardly speak before for fear of our Taskmasters; but we dare now Nose those Villains that used to gibe us. 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, 2nd edition, London: Printed for J. Moor, […], →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2019, page 15:
[Y]ou / Did pocket vp my Letters: and with taunts / Did gibe my Miſive out of audience. c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 346, column 1:
(transitive) To say in a mocking or taunting manner.
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. 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter VI, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part I, page 121:
(intransitive) To make a mocking remark or remarks; to jeer.
Why thats the way to choake a gibing ſpirrit, / Whoſe influence is begot of that looſe grace, / Which ſhallow laughing hearers giue to fooles, […] 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] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
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 misery jibing at her from those pages in Ralph Crossby's stiff and clerical handwriting. 1928, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 27, in The Well of Loneliness, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC; republished Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 2005, →ISBN, book 2, section I, page 182:
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? 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 7:
"What's the matter with you?" the woman jibed. She called after him as he walked away: "Nuts, that's what you are!" 1953, James Hilton, “Paris III”, in Time and Time Again (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 216:
Thus with talents well endu'd / To be ſcurrilous and rude; / When you pertly raiſe your ſnout, / Fleer and gibe, and laugh and flout; […] 1730, Jonathan Swift, “To Betty the Grizete”, in The Poetical Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, […], published 1794, →OCLC; republished in Robert 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, page 128, column 2:
cs pošklebovat se (to make a mocking remark or remarks) · ka გამასხარავება (to reproach with contemptuous words) · ka აბუჩად აგდება (to say in a mocking or taunting manner) · ka გამასხარავება (to make a mocking remark or remarks) · cs posmívat se (to make a mocking remark or remarks) · ka აბუჩად აგდება (to reproach with contemptuous words) · ka გამასხარავება (to say in a mocking or taunting manner) · ka დაცინვა (to reproach with contemptuous words) · ka დაცინვა (to make a mocking remark or remarks) · ka დაცინვა (to say in a mocking or taunting manner) · ka აბუჩად აგდება (to make a mocking remark or remarks)
Origin unknown; perhaps related to chime (“to cause to sound in harmony”).
Meanings
(Canada, US, informal, intransitive) To accord or agree.
[T]here is something wrong with your figures. They do not jibe with experience. They do not jibe with prices. They do not jibe with what we know. 1926 May 13, Henry H. Glassie (witness), “Statement of Henry H. Glassie, Member of United States Tariff Commission”, in Investigation of the Tariff Commission: Hearings before the Select Committee on Investigation of the Tariff Commission, United States Senate, Sixty-ninth Congress, First Session […] Part 1 […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 529:
That explanation doesn’t jibe with the facts.
This did not jibe 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. 1980, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, chapter 27, in Metaphors We Live By:
es cuadrar (to accord or agree) · es cuajar (to accord or agree) · de zusammenpassen (to accord or agree) · ru биться (to accord or agree) · es encajar (to accord or agree) · es concordar (to accord or agree) · ru соответствовать (to accord or agree) · fr se mettre d'accord (to accord or agree) · fr s'accorder (to accord or agree) · de übereinstimmen (to accord or agree)