Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Trip?

\Trip\, n. i. [imp. & p. p. {Tripped}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Tripping}.] [OE. trippen; akin to D. trippen, Dan. trippe, and E. tramp. See {Tramp}.] 1. To move with light, quick steps; to walk or move lightly; to skip; to move the feet nimbly; -- sometimes followed by it. See {It}, 5. This horse anon began to trip and dance. --Chaucer. Come, and trip it, as you go, On the light fantastic toe. --Milton. She bounded by, and tripped so light They had not time to take a steady sight. --Dryden. 2. To make a brief journey or pleasure excursion; as, to trip to Europe. 3. To take a quick step, as when in danger of losing one's balance; hence, to make a false; to catch the foot; to lose footing; to stumble. 4. Fig.: To be guilty of a misstep; to commit an offense against morality, propriety, or rule; to err; to mistake; to fail. ``Till his tongue trip.'' --Locke. A blind will thereupon comes to be led by a blind understanding; there is no remedy, but it must trip and stumble. --South. Virgil is so exact in every word that none can be changed but for a worse; he pretends sometimes to trip, but it is to make you think him in danger when most secure. --Dryden. What? dost thou verily trip upon a word? --R. Browning.
\Trip\, v. t. 1. To cause to stumble, or take a false step; to cause to lose the footing, by striking the feet from under; to cause to fall; to throw off the balance; to supplant; -- often followed by up; as, to trip up a man in wrestling. The words of Hobbes's defense trip up the heels of his cause. --Abp. Bramhall. 2. Fig.: To overthrow by depriving of support; to put an obstacle in the way of; to obstruct; to cause to fail. To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword. --Shak. 3. To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict. [R.] These her women can trip me if I err. --Shak. 4. (Naut.) (a) To raise (an anchor) from the bottom, by its cable or buoy rope, so that it hangs free. (b) To pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering it. 5. (Mach.) To release, let fall, or see free, as a weight or compressed spring, as by removing a latch or detent.
\Trip\, n. 1. A quick, light step; a lively movement of the feet; a skip. His heart bounded as he sometimes could hear the trip of a light female step glide to or from the door. --Sir W. Scott. 2. A brief or rapid journey; an excursion or jaunt. I took a trip to London on the death of the queen. --Pope. 3. A false step; a stumble; a misstep; a loss of footing or balance. Fig.: An error; a failure; a mistake. Imperfect words, with childish trips. --Milton. Each seeming trip, and each digressive start. --Harte. 4. A small piece; a morsel; a bit. [Obs.] ``A trip of cheese.'' --Chaucer. 5. A stroke, or catch, by which a wrestler causes his antagonist to lose footing. And watches with a trip his foe to foil. --Dryden. It is the sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground. --South. 6. (Naut.) A single board, or tack, in plying, or beating, to windward. 7. A herd or flock, as of sheep, goats, etc. [Prov. Eng. & Scott.] 8. A troop of men; a host. [Obs.] --Robert of Brunne. 9. (Zo["o]l.) A flock of widgeons.