gybe
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
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(intr) (of a fore-and-aft sail) to shift suddenly from one side of the vessel to the other when running before the wind, as the result of allowing the wind to catch the leech
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to cause (a sailing vessel) to gybe or (of a sailing vessel) to undergo gybing
noun
Etymology
Origin of gybe
C17: from obsolete Dutch gijben (now gijpen ), of obscure origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The team said on Wednesday that Fisher had unclipped his tether and left the cockpit to tidy up a sheet when the boat went into an accidental crash gybe.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 28, 2018
Burling said he thought he could lay through the final gate and then gybe to the finish, but he misjudged it and had to make an extra maneuver, slowing the boat.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 12, 2017
But the thread is cut between us and we will never gybe again, no, never—worlds without end.
From The Lions of the Lord A Tale of the Old West by Harry Leon Wilson
Wildly excited, Tim forgot that he was steering and, putting the helm down, allowed the smack to gybe "all standing".
From With Beatty off Jutland A Romance of the Great Sea Fight by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
In rounding the buoy, it was necessary to gybe again; and it was done without shaking up the yacht half so much as at the north-east point.
From The Yacht Club or The Young Boat-Builder by Oliver Optic
Instead, it gybed in Luna Rossa’s wind shadow, lost speed and fell off its foils.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 17, 2021
Team New Zealand looked likely to roll Luna Rossa on the first downwind but, as the boats came level, gybed away in a failing breeze.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2021
While I was standing at the taffrail in admiration of this wonderful resource of nature, the main boom gybed and struck me with such force, that I was thrown into the sea.
From The Pacha of Many Tales by Frederick Marryat
When our mainsheet parted the boom gybed so hard that it opened a seam.
From Wings of the Wind by Credo Fitch Harris
Her skipper excused his action by stating that he was frightened of heaving-to as he might have carried away his mast and gone ashore, if he had hauled up and gybed.
From King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 by E. Keble (Edward Keble) Chatterton
First Team New Zealand dropped off its foils after gybing in Luna Rossa’s wind shadow and the Italian team sailed away to a massive advantage.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2021
Mostyn, intent upon preventing the boat from gybing, had no opportunity of seeing the result of the shot.
From The Wireless Officer by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
Bobtail ran to the west of the ledges, and, going entirely round to avoid gybing, he came up into the wind close under the stern of the Penobscot.
From Little Bobtail or The Wreck of the Penobscot. by Oliver Optic
By this time the wind had dropped to a gentle breeze on the port quarter, and there was no longer any risk of gybing.
From The Wireless Officer by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
Putting a boat about, as Fanny had turned the Greyhound, is nautically termed gybing her.
From Hope and Have or, Fanny Grant Among the Indians, A Story for Young People by Oliver Optic
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
