gybe

present singular third person gybes · participle present gybing · participle past gybed · past gybed

1. transitivenauticalTo shift a fore-and-aft sail from one side of a sailing vessel to the other, while sailing before the wind.
2. intransitivenauticalOf a fore-and-aft sail or its boom: to shift, often forcefully and suddenly, from one side of a sailing vessel to the other.

   1 more example

   […] I had my Man Friday to teach as to what belong'd to the Navigation of my Boat; for though he knew very well how to paddle a Canoe, he knew nothing what belong'd to a Sail and a Rudder, and was the moſt amaz'd when he ſaw me work the Boat too and again in the Sea by the Rudder, and how the Sail gyb'd, and fill'd this Way or that Way, as the Courſe we ſail'd chang'd: […]

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 271

3. intransitivenauticalGenerally of a small sailing vessel: to change tack with the wind crossing behind the vessel.
4. broadlyobsoleteOften as gybe at: to balk, hesitate, or vacillate when faced with a course of action, plan, or proposal.

plural gybes · alternative gibe · alternative jibe

1. The act of gybing.
   1. nauticalA sudden shift of a sail's angle, or a sudden change in the direction that a vessel is sailing in.
   2. nauticalA manoeuvre in which the stern of a sailing vessel crosses the wind, typically resulting in the forceful and sudden sweep of the boom from one side of the vessel to the other.

      The key to a good gybe is to bring the spinnaker round to the old weather side before you begin, and then to steer to keep some wind in the kite.

      2014, Tim Davison, “Symmetric Spinnakers”, in Skipper’s Cockpit Racing Guide: For Dinghies, Keelboats and Yachts, London: Adlard Coles Nautical, →ISBN, page 24

2. broadlyA sudden change in approach or direction; vacillation.

plural gybes

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of jibe (“taunt”).

present singular third person gybes · participle present gybing · participle past gybed · past gybed

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of jibe (“taunt”).