the.com/cut of your jib
18th-century sailors judged ships by their sails; now strangers judge you by your vibe.
means It refers to the general look, style, or manner of a person — the overall impression they give off at a glance.
from Comes from old sailing days, when a ship's jib (its foremost triangular sail) had a distinctive cut or shape that experienced sailors could use to identify a vessel's nationality or make from a distance — friend or foe, before you got close enough to be sure. By the early 1800s, sailors had stretched the phrase ashore, applying it to people: you could size someone up — trust them or not — just by their general bearing, the same way you'd size up a ship by its sail.
- origin
- jib is the triangular sail at the bow
- navy logic
- sail shape revealed a ship's nationality and intent
- modern use
- means overall look or demeanor, not clothes
- first recorded
- appeared in print around 1823