(nautical) a member of the crew who trims the sails.
Someone who fluctuates between opposing factions, political parties etc., according to current interest.
1848, Baron Macaulay, History of England, I.2:Thus Halifax was a Trimmer on principle.
2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 9:Lady Margaret Beaufort's third husband, Lord Stanley, an accomplished political trimmer, gave fair words but little commitment: the vast, well-armed Stanley retinues shadowed Henry's route southeast to the battlefield and waited, detached, to see how the chips fell.
(architecture) A beam into which are framed the ends of headers in floor framing, as when a hole is to be left for stairs, or to avoid bringing joists near chimneys.
