or trat, subs. (old).—1. An old woman: in contempt: usually OLD TROT; a bawd: ‘a sorry base old woman’ (B. E.): ‘a decrepit old woman’ (GROSE).
1512–3. DOUGLAS, Virgil, B. iv. 96, l. 97.
| Out on the, auld TRAT, agit wyffe or dame. | |
| Ibid., 122, 39. | |
| Thus said Dido, and the tothir with that | |
| Hyit on furth with slaw pase lik ane TRAT. |
1551. STILL, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, i. 1. The OLD TROT sits groaning with alas and alas. Ibid., ii. 2. I will have the young whore by the head and the OLD TROT by the throat.
1560. GASCOIGNE, Supposes, ii. 5 [HAZLITT (1869), Poems, i. 230]. Pas. [aside]. Go: that the gunne pouder consume thee, OLDE TROTTE!
1570. TURBERVILLE, The Annswere, for taking a Wyfe.
| Put case an aged TROT be somewhat tough: | |
| If coyne shee bring the care will be the lesse. | |
| Ibid., To a Yong Gentleman of Taking a Wyfe [CHALMERS, ii. 618]. | |
| A filthie Trull is yrkesome to the eie…. | |
| An aged TROT to lyke is hard to finde. |
c. 1586. WARNER, Albion’s England, ii. 47.
| With easie sute he got | |
| Assurance to be wedded too the OLDE deformed TROT. |
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Taming of the Shrew, i. 2. 80. Or an OLD TROT, with ne’er a tooth in her head, though she have as many diseases as two and fifty horses. Ibid. (1603), Measure for Measure, iii. 2. 52. What sayest thou, TROT?… Bawd is he doubtless, and of antiquity too.
1593. CHURCHYARD, Challenge, 250. Awaie OLD TROTTS, that sets young flesh to sale.
1594. The Affectionate Shepheard.
| This leare I learned of a beldame TROT, | |
| (When I was yong and wylde as now thou art). |
1599. NASHE, Lenten Stuffe [GROSART, Works, V. 263]. A cage … romthsome enough to comprehend her and the toothlesse TROTTE her nurse, who was her onely chatmate and chambermaide.
1653. URQUHART, Rabelais, I. vi. An ugly OLD TROT in the company … had the reputation of an expert she-physician.
1678. COTTON, Scarronides, or, Virgil Travestie (1770), 138. The hobbling TROT limps down the Stairs.
2. (old).—An endearment: of a child learning to run.
1854–5. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, x. Ethel romped with the little children, the rosy little TROTS.
1897. OUIDA, The Massarenes, 10. She must not keep this bonbonnière; the contents are more than enough for a careless little TROT who knocks people about with her balloon.
3. (American schools’).—A PONY (q.v.), CRIB (q.v.). Whence as verb (or TO TROT A LESSON) = to use a translation or other adventitious aid to study.
Verb. (thieves’).—1. To steal in broad daylight.
2. (colloquial).—Generic for doing: thus TO TROT OUT (= express) AN OPINION; TO TROT OUT (= escort) A JUDY; TO TROT OUT (= sing) A SONG; TO TROT OUT (= spend) THE PIECES, and so forth. TO TROT ROUND = to take a turn round the town, the halls, etc.; ON THE TROT = on the GO (q.v.), pegging away; DOG-TROT = ‘a gentle pace’ (GROSE); TO TROT UP (auctioneers’) = to bid against, to run up prices.
1888. D. C. MURRAY, The Weaker Vessel, xiii. They would sit for hours solemnly TROTTING OUT for one another’s admiration their commonplaces of the philosophical copy-book, until I tingled from head to foot.
1860. New York Evening Post, 18 Feb. The friends of Alexander H. Stephens are making vigorous efforts to TROT HIM OUT for the Presidency.
PHRASE.—‘He lies as fast as a dog can TROT’ (of a persistent liar).
