gibe

gibe is the alternative spelling of gybe.

gibe is the alternative spelling of jibe.

Meaning of gybe

gybe (plural gybes)

A sudden shift of a sail's angle, or a sudden change in the direction that a vessel is sailing in.
A manoeuvre in which the stern of a sailing vessel crosses the wind, typically resulting in the forceful and sudden sweep of the boom from one side of the vessel to the other.
- The key to a good gybe is to bring the spinnaker round to the old weather side before you begin, and then to steer to keep some wind in the kite.2014, Tim Davison, “Symmetric Spinnakers”, in Skipper’s Cockpit Racing Guide: For Dinghies, Keelboats and Yachts, London: Adlard Coles Nautical, →ISBN, page 24
(broadly) A sudden change in approach or direction; vacillation.

jibe (plural jibes)

A facetious or insulting remark; a jeer, a taunt.
- He flung subtle jibes at her until she couldn’t bear to work with him any longer.
Synonyms:

sideswipe

GibE

Noun
plural	gibes
Verb
third-person singular present	gibes
present participle	gibing
past participle	gibed
past	gibed

What is gibe the alternative spelling of?: Gibe is the alternative spelling of gybe.
What part of speech is gibe?: Gibe is a proper noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: gibe (page history and authors); GibE (page history and authors); gybe (page history and authors); jibe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “gibe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gibe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.