cut of one's jib
1
9.9
- idiom
- Archaic
:
apariencia
- I like the cut of his jib.
- like the cut of one's jib
Examples
-
I really appreciate the cut of his jib; he always seems so charming and approachable.
-
The story ended, the men made a kind of silent grumble, then Matt said, in afterthought, "I liked the cut of his jib."
Fiction book (1994) -
I like the cut of his jib.
-
Oh, I like the cut of your jib.
-
i iike the cut of your jib, Tommy.
-
Maybe I'm misjudging him, but I don't like the cut of his jib.
Blog text (15) -
As for Jerry, an old sea-faring expression might put it that I had taken his measure from the cut of his jib, which pleased me but hardly impelled me to storm the throne of his marriage.
Fiction book (1995) -
You can tell a lot about a person by the cut of their jib, especially their values and personality.
-
It's important to consider the cut of one's jib before making a judgment about their character.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
The way a person or place seems to other people
388
1.8
The way a person or thing looks to other people
How Appealing
Surface Forms
Morphology
There is a partial clue in 'cut' (shape/tailoring) that could suggest 'appearance', but 'jib' is a specialized nautical term and the transfer from sail-shape to a person's character is metaphorical and culturally specific. Because the connection is only indirect and relies on prior nautical or idiomatic knowledge, a B1 learner who merely knows the constituent words would not reliably infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The phrase cut of one's jib comes from old sailors. A jib is a small sail and its cut means its shape, so sailors could tell a ship's owner by the sail's look, and that idea later came to mean a person's 'appearance' or 'character'.