To jibe or gibe (at) people is to taunt or jeer at them.
- Almost every day, Bertram jibed (or gibed) at his sister about her off-key singing.
A jibe or gibe is an annoying or jeering remark.
- Ted hurt Sally’s feelings when he made a gibe (or jibe) about her weight.
To jibe with something suggests agreement or harmony. (Some writers mistakenly use jive with in this context.)
- It was fortunate that Layla’s ideas on child-rearing jibed (not jived) completely with Hector’s.
Jive refers to a style of music, speech and dancing.
- Jive dancing was very popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
- When disc jockeys started using jive talk, their ratings increased wildly.
Jive is also slang for tease or mislead.
- Are you jiving me, Jack?
The verb gybe and its spelling variants gibe and jibe describe a sailing manoeuver.
- When the skipper gybes (or gibes), the boat travels away from the wind; and when he tacks, it moves into the wind.
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