cut of one's jib
/ˌkʌt‿əv wʌnz ˈd͡ʒɪb/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.78 in modern English
26
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
1
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "We have only farther to notice Meg's mode of conducting herself towards chance travellers, who, […] stumbled upon her house of entertainment. Her reception of these was as precarious as the hospitality of a savage nation to sailors shipwrecked on their coast. […] [I]f she disliked what the sailor calls the cut of their jibb—or if, above all, they were critical about their accommodations, none so likely as Meg to give them what in her country is called a sloan."
- "About eleven o'clock, the captains who were to be our Minos and our Rhadamanthus, made their appearance, and we all agreed that we did not much like the "cut of their jibs.""
- "I axes you, because I see you're a sailor by the cut of your jib."
- ""You'll not know him from any one else," said Mrs Avenel. "Well, that is a good one! Not know an Avenel! We've all the same cut of the jib—have we not, father?""
- "I have seen that girl on the deck, and I like the cut of her jib. I like the way she walks. Her independence suits me."
- "Jack thinks, by the cut of their jibs, they were Frenchmen, one an officer and the other his servant."
Etymology
From cut (“a way of shaping or styling”) and jib (“a triangular staysail set forward of the foremast”), originally a nautical expression alluding to the identification of far-off sailing vessels by the shape of their sails. The idiomatic sense may have been influenced by the similarity of a triangular jib sail to a person’s nose.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌkʌt‿əv wʌnz ˈd͡ʒɪb/
- British English: /ˌkʌt‿əv wʌnz ˈd͡ʒɪb/