jibe at, jibe with, jive, gibe, gybe

To jibe or gibe (at) people is to taunt or jeer at them.

• Almost every day, Bertram jibed (or gibed) at his sister about her off-key singing.

A jibe or gibe is an annoying or jeering remark.

• Ted hurt Sally’s feelings when he made a gibe (or jibe) about her weight.

To jibe with something suggests agreement or harmony. (Some writers mistakenly use jive with in this context.)

• It was fortunate that Layla’s ideas on child-rearing jibed (not jived) completely with Hector’s.

Jive refers to a style of music, speech and dancing.

• Jive dancing was very popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• When disc jockeys started using jive talk, their ratings increased wildly.

Jive is also slang for tease or mislead.

• Are you jiving me, Jack?

The verb gybe and its spelling variants gibe and jibe describe a sailing manoeuver.

• When the skipper gybes (or gibes), the boat travels away from the wind; and when he tacks, it moves into the wind.

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