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cut of one's jib

 - 3 dictionary results

jib

1  [jib]
Use cut of one's jib in a Sentence
–noun Nautical.
1. any of various triangular sails set forward of a forestaysail or fore-topmast staysail. Compare flying jib, inner jib.
2. the inner one of two such sails, set inward from a flying jib.
–adjective
3. of or pertaining to a jib: jib clew.
—Idiom
4. cut of one's jib, one's general appearance, mien, or manner: I could tell by the cut of his jib that he wasn't the kind of person I'd want to deal with.
Origin:
1655–65; orig. uncert.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

jib 
"foresail of a ship," 1661, gibb, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to gibbet, from notion of a sail "hanging" from a masthead. Or perhaps from jib (v.) "shift a sail or boom" (1693), from Du. gijben, apparently related to gijk "boom or spar of a sailing ship." Said to indicate a ship's character to an observant sailor as a strange vessel approaches at sea; also nautical slang for "face," hence cut of his jib.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

cut of one's jib

One's general appearance or personality, as in I don't like the cut of Ben's jib. In the 17th century the shape of the jib sail often identified a vessel's nationality, and hence whether it was hostile or friendly. The term was being used figuratively by the early 1800s, often to express like or dislike for someone.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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