Trip
Pronunciation
- enPR: trÄp, IPA: /tɹɪp/
- Rhymes: -ɪp
Origin
From Old French tripper (noun is from the verb), from a Frankish source: compare Middle Dutch trippen, Middle Low German trippen (Danish trippe), Frisian tripje.
Full definition of trip
Noun
trip
(plural trips)- A journey; an excursion or jaunt.We made a trip to the beach.
- Alexander PopeI took a trip to London on the death of the queen.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.
- A stumble or misstep.He was injured due to a trip down the stairs.
- (figurative) An error; a failure; a mistake.
- John MiltonImperfect words, with childish trips.
- HarteEach seeming trip, and each digressive start.
- A period of time in which one experiences drug-induced reverie or hallucinations.He had a strange trip after taking LSD.
- A faux pas, a social error.
- Intense involvement in or enjoyment of a condition.ego trip; power trip; nostalgia trip; guilt trip
- (engineering) A mechanical or electrical cutout device.It's dark because the trip operated.
- A quick, light step; a lively movement of the feet; a skip.
- Sir Walter ScottHis heart bounded as he sometimes could hear the trip of a light female step glide to or from the door.
- (obsolete) A small piece; a morsel; a bit.
- Geoffrey ChaucerA trip of cheese.
- The act of tripping someone, or causing them to lose their footing.
- John DrydenAnd watches with a trip his foe to foil.
- SouthIt is the sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground.
- (nautical) A single board, or tack, in plying, or beating, to windward.
- (obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect) A herd or flock of sheep, goats, etc.
- (obsolete) A troop of men; a host.
- A flock of wigeons.
Derived terms
Verb
- (intransitive) To fall over or stumble over an object as a result of striking it with one's foot.Be careful not to trip on the tree roots.
- (transitive, sometimes followed by "up") To cause (a person or animal) to fall or stumble.A pedestrian was able to trip the burglar as he was running away.
- 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5Early in his boyhood he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tying long grasses together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat or attempting to hang him from some overhanging branch.
- (intransitive) To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc.
- John Locketill his tongue trip
- SouthA blind will thereupon comes to be led by a blind understanding; there is no remedy, but it must trip and stumble.
- DrydenVirgil 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.
- (transitive, obsolete) To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict.
- ShakespeareThese her women can trip me if I err.
- (transitive) To activate or set in motion, as in the activation of a trap, explosive, or switch.When we get into the factory, trip the lights.
- (intransitive) To be activated, as by a signal or an event.The alarm system tripped, throwing everyone into a panic.
- (intransitive) To experience a state of reverie or to hallucinate, due to consuming psychoactive drugs.After taking the LSD, I started tripping about fairies and colors.
- (intransitive) To journey, to make a trip.Last summer we tripped to the coast.
- (intransitive, dated) To move with light, quick steps; to walk or move lightly; to skip.
- MiltonCome, and trip it, as you go,
On the light fantastic toe. - DrydenShe bounded by, and tripped so light
They had not time to take a steady sight. - (nautical) To raise (an anchor) from the bottom, by its cable or buoy rope, so that it hangs free.
- (nautical) To pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering it.