Meaning
Your characteristic appearance, manner or style, especially as the basis of a first impression. Informal and nautical in flavour. It can signal approval or disapproval and need not refer only to physical appearance. Regional use: Nautical British origin; now wider informal English.
Origin
A jib is a triangular sail set forward on a sailing vessel, and its cut helped an observer recognize a ship's rig or character at a distance. The image was applied to people by the early 19th century; Walter Scott used it figuratively in 1824. More elaborate claims that every nationality had a uniquely diagnostic jib should be treated as explanatory tradition rather than a universal rule.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Cut of one's jib
- Like the cut of someone's jib
Usage Examples
- I like the cut of your jib; you ask the awkward question first.
- The manager distrusted him from the cut of his jib alone.
- Her quiet competence soon mattered more than anyone's first view of the cut of her jib.