1 : to shift suddenly and forcibly from one side to the other —used of a fore-and-aft sail or its boomwas the most amazed when he saw me work the boat to and again in the sea by the rudder, and how the sail jibed, and filled this way or that way as the course we sailed changed— Daniel Defoethe cutter had lost all four foremost men by the violent jibing of a boom— Herman Melville

2 : to change a vessel's course when sailing with the wind so that as the stern passes through the eye of the wind the boom swings to the opposite side

transitive verb

: to cause (a sail or vessel) to jibe this maneuver was bound to force her to jibe her mainsail from one side to the other— Jack London

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Examples of jibe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The results jibe with as-yet-unpublished work by Sarah Tishkoff, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania. — Michael Price, Science | AAAS, "Africans carry surprising amount of Neanderthal DNA," 30 Jan. 2020 This is sure to cause grumbling on Capitol Hill that McConnell is coordinating with the President in a way that doesn't jibe with his Senate duties. — Aj Willingham, CNN, "5 things to know for January 9: Iran, royals, Ukraine plane, impeachment, cancer," 9 Jan. 2020 As an exercise in practical politics, this is entirely understandable, but the approach doesn’t jibe with the apocalyptic anti-Trump rhetoric deployed to justify his impeachment. — Rich Lowry, National Review, "The Unhistoric Impeachment," 13 Dec. 2019 Related Stories The findings are both alarming and jibe pretty closely with what has been happening in the Bay Area and California. — Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, "UN climate panel finds growing risks to on oceans, glacial regions," 25 Sep. 2019 The findings jibe with complaints made to the health department since 2015 by 750 residents living near oil and gas facilities, state toxicologist Kristy Richardson said. — Bruce Finley, The Denver Post, "Colorado to tighten oversight of oil and gas sites near homes in wake of study finding possible short-term health effects," 17 Oct. 2019 Ryan-Southern notes that Hakkasan Group may choose to develop new brands that are a better fit for the Mexican market, rather than try to open an existing brand that might not jibe as well with local culture. — Naomi Tomky, Fortune, "Exclusive: Michelin-Starred Restaurant Group Hakkasan Expands to Mexico," 28 Sep. 2019 The 2017 Fitbit Ionic cost $300, almost as much as an Apple Watch at the time, and had a harsh, science fiction look that didn't jibe with enough Fitbit fans. — Aaron Pressman, Fortune, "How Fitbit Could Stage a Comeback With Its New Watch and Premium Service—Data Sheet," 29 Aug. 2019 But the signs didn’t jibe with city code, which had allowed right turns on red from the northbound curb lane. — Bob Sandrick, cleveland.com, "Strongsville officially bans right turns on red at Howe Road and Ohio 82," 13 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'jibe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.