Cut of your jib

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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

  1. Cut of your jib Phrase Finder
  2. The cut of someone's jib Cambridge University Press

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.

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