Also 4 trep, 4–6 tryp(pe, 4–7 trippe, 5 Sc. treip, 6 trype, 6–8 tripe, 8 tripp, 9 dial. thrip. [a. OF. treper, triper, tripper (12th c. in Godef.) to strike (the ground) with the foot in sign of joy or of impatience, to leap, dance, also to trample or strike with the feet; in Cotgr. ‘to hop, skip, trip, or foot it up and downe; also to stampe, trample on, tread under foot’; = Pr. trepar to hop, spring (Diez); of Lower Frankish origin: cf. MDu. trippen (Kilian, Du. trippelen) to skip, trip, hop, LG. trippen, trippeln, Fris. tripje; in ablaut relation with Du. trappen, G. trappen, trappeln, in OE. treppan to tread, trample: cf. G. treppe step.]
I. To tread or step lightly or nimbly.
1. intr. To move lightly and nimbly on the feet; to skip, caper; to dance; † of a horse: to caper, prance (obs. rare–1). arch.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 142. In twenty manere koude he trippe [v.r. trip] and daunce After the scole of Oxenford[e] tho. Ibid., Sqr.’s T., 304. This hors anoon bigan to trippe [v.r. tryppe] and daunce.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, IV. ix. (1869), 180. j carolle, j trippe, j daunce.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), v. 9. Now in May to madynis fawis With tymmer wechtis to trip in ringis.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. v. 97. About him (Fairies) sing a scornfull rime, And as you trip, still pinch him to your time. Ibid. (1610), Temp., IV. i. 46. Each one tripping on his Toe, Will be here with mop, and mowe.
c. 1633. Milton, Arcades, 99. Nymphs and Shepherds dance no more … Trip no more in twilight ranks.
1796. R. P. Knight, in New Ann. Reg., Poetry, 152. No fairies now, or dapper elves are seen, By Fancy’s eye, light-tripping o’er the green.
1849. G. P. R. James, Woodman, ii. He found the young sisters … tripping in the green wood with the fairies of nights.
b. intr. with it.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 115. If [she have] no cunning to daunce, request her to trippe it, if no skill in musicke, profer hir the Lute.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 33. Com, and trip it as ye go On the light fantastick toe.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, IV. viii. The Family tripped it about, and capered like hail-stones bounding from a marble floor.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, ix. 112. The young folks tripped it away on the grass.
† c. transf. Of the heart: To beat excitedly. Obs.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. cvi. (1869), 115. Myn herte hoppeth for ioye, and lepeth and trippeth.
† d. trans. To step or tread on. Obs. rare.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 241. Garyn his gode stede hym fette, Þat was in spaygne iboȝt; þe erld lep vp wyþ oute lette, His styrop trepede he noȝt.
2. trans. a. To perform (a dance) with a light lively step. rare.
1627. Drayton, Nymphidia, xli. Eu’ry Mayde … The Horne-pype neatly tripping.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 406. They dance and trip Moresco Sarabrands to them again.
1812. Lady Nairne, Caller Herrin, in R. Ford, Harp Perthshire (1893), 112. He can trip the spring fu’ tightly.
b. To tread lightly and nimbly, dance upon.
1749. Shenstone, Irregular Ode, 72. The sportive graces trip the green.
1808. A. Sharpe, in R. Ford, Harp Perthshire (1893), 93. Ghosts of the slain trip Corunna’s lone shore.
1887. P. M’Neill, Blawearie, 43. Nannie had been a short time at the dance, and had tripped the floor with both the joiner and the blacksmith.
3. intr. To go, walk, skip, or run with a light and lively motion; to move with a quick light tread; also with it, and in phr. † to trip and go.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3713. Alle trompede they trippe one trappede stedys.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., V. (Parl. Beasts), xi. The lark, the maueis … treipand fra tre to tre.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 405. That you should in stormy weather, and durtie wayes,… come tripping to mee in your silcken sleppers.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 25. Trype and goe, for I dare not tarry.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 144. Trip and goe, my sweete, deliuer this Paper into the hand of the King.
1712. Tickell, Spect., No. 410, ¶ 1. I dismissed my Coach at the Gate, and tripped it down to my Counsel’s Chambers.
1870. Rock, Text. Fabr., I. 240. Hares tripping within a park.
1883. S. C. Hall, Retrospect, II. 173. She … tripped before us up the stairs to the drawing-room.
b. transf. and fig.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. i. § 18. Wee see … with what facility the mind … trips over mountains, crosseth the ocean.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 126. Vanity … mingles among our vital juices, trips along the tongue, dances upon the eyes.
1854. Alford, in Life (1873), 237. So many notes tripped backwards and forwards between us.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 86. There’s a nice breeze tripping on the Loch.
c. Angling. See quots.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, i. (1880), 8. The line [is] plumbed, so that the float shall carry the hook just off the bottom, now and then perhaps touching it, or ‘tripping.’ Ibid., ii. (1880), 66. The right depth … for the worm to trip or drag slowly over the bottom.
d. quasi-trans. = RUN v. 37 a.
1850. Blackie, Æschylus, II. 64. Far liefer would I lackey this bare rock Than trip the messages of Father Jove.
4. trans. To cause to trip or go nimbly; to send forth trippingly.
1598. E. Gilpin, Skial. (1878), 20. Come trip the dice, haue at your box (Madame) Ile cast at all.
1616–61. Holyday, Persius (1673), 294. His dainty palate tripping forth his words.
1901. ‘Zack,’ Dunstable Weir, 191. When her zot under the big fig tree, thripping her lace-bobbins in and out.
5. intr. To make a trip or short excursion. Also to trip it.
1664. Etheredge, Comical Revenge, Prol. If you shou’d, we and our Comedies Must trip to Norwich, or for Ireland go.
1699. J. Dunton, Life & Err. (1818), II. 613. The gentleman who tripped lately to Ireland.
1761. H. Walpole, Lett. to G. Montagu, 31 July. I shall trip to Paris in about a fortnight.
1878. M. C. Jackson, Chaperon’s Cares, I. xiii. 177. Persuaded Mr. Kirke to trip it to Brighton for the good of his health.
1892. Besant, in Illustr. Lond. News, Summer No. 1. The trippers have not yet begun to trip.
II. To strike with the foot so as to cause stumbling (and derived senses).
(App. an English development of sense.).
6. trans. To cause to stumble or fall by suddenly arresting or catching the foot; ‘to throw by striking the feet from the ground by a sudden motion; to strike the feet from under the body’ (J.). Also with up, † down. Often with the heels, foot, etc., as object, esp. in the phrase to trip up one’s heels.
c. 1425. Cast. Persev., 3426, in Macro Plays, 179. He wende þat he schulde a levyd ay, tyl dethe trypte hym on his daunce.
1530. Palsgr., 762/2. Why dyd you tryppe him as he was ronnyng?
1592. Greene, Art Conny Catch., III. 32. The other following tript vp his heeles.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 722. The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 95. Ste. Ile not be strucken, my Lord. Kent. Nor tript neither, you base Foot-ball plaier. Ibid., II. ii. 32, 126.
1627. Drayton, Nymphidia, lvii. A Stump doth trip him in his pace, Downe comes poore Hob vpon his face.
a. 1653. Gouge, Comm. Hebr. xi. 20 (1655), III. 84. The verb … signifieth to supplant, or to trip down, which is oft done with the heel.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 42, ¶ 1. The right adjusting of her Train, lest it should chance to trip up her Heels.
1786. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, 13 Aug. I have come on prodigiously … in the power and skill of walking backwards, without tripping up my own heels.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, iv. Henry Smith, parrying the blow…, tripping him at the same time, gave him a severe fall.
1884. Browning, Ferishtah, Shah Abbas, 144. What lay on floor to trip your foot?
b. fig. or in fig. context.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 122 b. The Frenchmen … determined to trippe and deceiue them by their accustomed seruaunt, called master Treason.
1551. Bp. Gardiner, Explic., Transubstantiation, 109 b. There was neuer man tryppyd himselfe more hansomely to take a fall, then this auctour doth.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. ii. 87. To trip the course of Law, and blunt the Sword That guards the peace.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, II. 29. The former fight, wherein not our cowardise, but some cross fortune tript us.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 118. The free-thinker … loves to pick holes … to trip up an adversary at unawares.
1872. Blackie, Lays Highl., 62. Hasty winter … Came, and tripped the summer’s heels.
† c. intr. To trip at: to attempt to trip or overthrow. Obs. rare.
1633. Heywood, Eng. Trav., V. Wks. 1874, IV. 87. Though their riots tript at my estate, They haue not quite orethrowne it.
† d. trans. To trip off: to throw off. Obs. rare.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 173. At the very time of my writing this, Half … should be fairly tript off.
e. In coursing: see quot., and cf. TRIP sb.1 5 c.
1859. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports (ed. 4), I. III. viii. § 2. A tripping or jerking the hare to be reckoned one point…. It has ought to have held her.
7. To overthrow by catching in a fault or blunder; to detect in an inconsistency or inaccuracy.
1557. N. T. (Genev.), John xv. 20, note. To be diligent to espie fautes to trippe one in.
1586. J. Hooker, Hist. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 105/1. Being tript by the councell in his tale, was committed to the Fleet.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 35. These her Women Can trip me, if I erre.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Noble Gent., III. i. He must … Be a better Statesman than yourself that can Trip me in anything.
8. intr. To strike the foot against something, so as to hop, stagger, or fall; to stumble over an obstacle; to make a false step.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 503/1. Tryppyn, or stoomelyn, cespito.
1530. Palsgr., 762/2. My horse stombled nat, he dyd but tryppe a lytell.
1579. G. Harvey, Lett. to Spenser, Wks. (Grosart), I. 23. A good horse that trippeth not once in a iourney.
1637. Heywood, Dial., Wks. 1874, VI. 291. Run not so fast, lest thou shouldst trip perhaps.
a. 1760. I. H. Browne, Design & Beauty, Poems (1768), 100. Tumblers trip but to conceal their art.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xvii. I tripped over my sword, and nearly fell on my nose.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, II. xlix. 61. He would have tripped at the upward step at the cathedral door had she not been with him.
fig. 1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxvii. (1887), 150. Neither will I touch the other two, vnles I fortune to trip vpon them by chaunce.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1744), XI. 167. They may sometimes out of infirmity trip into a perjury, a murder or an adultery.
b. Said of the tongue: To stumble in articulation; to falter in speaking.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 163 b. To saye his seruyce with stoppynge & tryppynge of tonge.
1598. Drayton, Heroic. Ep., ii. 9. With the earnest Haste, my Tongue oft trips.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., III. x. § 33. Drinking … till his Tongue trips, and his Eyes look red, and his Feet fail him.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Trip, to stumble with the Feet, or falter with the Tongue.
c. Horology. Of an escape-wheel: To fail to release itself from the pallet; see also quot. 1850 s.v. TRIPPING vbl. sb. 2.
1850–79. [see TRIPPING vbl. sb. 2].
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 89. Gravity escapements were rather regarded with suspicion as having a tendency to trip.
9. intr. To fall into an error; to make a mistake or false step; to commit a fault, inconsistency, or inaccuracy.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 39. Thy finger lay before thy lips, For a wise mans tonge without aduisement trips.
1584. B. R., trans. Herodotus, I. 37 b. Least he were taken vp for triping and conuicted of a lye.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, IV. xi. After many endeavours to catch me tripping in some part of my story [etc.].
1864. Tennyson, Grandmother, vii. Jenny had tript in her time.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc. (1879), II. vii. 93. How I rejoiced when I found an author tripping.
III. † 10. Naut. intr. To tack. Obs. rare.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 188. Thus did we trip to and again in that Streight, the wind continually shifting and turning.
11. Naut. trans. To loose (an anchor) from its bed and raise it clear of the bottom by the cable or a buoy rope. Also intr. for pass.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. i. 112. We … set the sails, which fortunately tripped the anchor.
1797. S. James, Narr. Voy. Arabia, etc., 16. We tripped our small bower.
1825. H. B. Gascoigne, Nav. Fame, 50. A greater force each steady shoulder plys, The Anchor Trips, and from the mud does rise.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. Everything was sheeted home and hoisted up, the anchor tripped and cat-headed, and the ship under headway.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 199. Sail must be made before tripping the anchor.
1903. Union Mag., Oct., 447/1. The usual plan is to take in the chain till it is straight up and down and then to trip the anchor by paying the boat off.
12. trans. To tilt; spec. Naut. to give (a yard) the necessary cant in sending it down; also, to lift (an upper mast) in order that it may be lowered.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxiii. [The royal yards] were all tripped and lowered together. Ibid. (1841), Seaman’s Man., Tripping Line, a line used for tripping a topgallant or royal yard in sending it down.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 821/1. (Ship-building) The chain then draws the bolt, and in falling trips the cradle from under the bottom.
13. intr. To tilt or tip up; of the floors of a ship, to be strained or twisted out of their horizontal position.
1869. Sir E. J. Reed, Shipbuilding, ii. 23. The floors are comparatively free to trip, by the keelson riding along the keel.
1874. Thearle, Naval Archit., 72. The hogging strains peculiar to long, narrow ships tend to produce a tripping of the floors; or an alteration in the form of the space … enclosed by keel, keelson, and floors.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Trip, v. i. to move on a pivot or fulcrum. A paving stone not evenly bedded when stepped upon is apt to log—this is to trip.
14. trans. To release (a catch, lever, or the like) by contact with a projection; to operate (a mechanism) in this way. Cf. TRIP sb.1 8.
1897. Daily News, 4 Nov., 6/4. An automatic parachute was to spread itself to make the descent and ‘trip’ the camera as it gracefully came to earth.
