• Trot

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -É’t

    Origin

    From Middle English trotten, from Old French trotter, troter ("to go, trot"), from Medieval Latin *trottāre, *trotāre ("to go"), from Frankish *trottōn ("to go, run"), from Proto-Germanic *trudōną, *trudaną, *tradjaną ("to go, step, tread"), from Proto-Indo-European *dreu-, *derə-, *drā- ("to run, escape"). Cognate with Old High German trottōn ("to run"), Modern German trotten ("to trot, plod"), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (trudan, "to tread"), Old Norse troða ("to walk, tread"), Old English tredan ("to step, tread"). More at tread.

    Full definition of trot

    Noun

    trot

    (plural trots)
    1. (archaic, disparaging) An ugly old woman, a hag.“Trot”, entry in 2008, Anatolij Simonovič Liberman, An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, page 208.
    From 1362.
    1. (chiefly of horses) A gait of a four-legged animal between walk and canter, a diagonal gait (in which diagonally opposite pairs of legs move together).
      • 2000, Margaret H. Bonham, Introduction to: Dog Agility, page 14,Dogs have a variety of gaits. Most dogs have the walk, trot, pace, and gallop.
      • 2008, Kenneth W. Hinchcliff, Andris J. Kaneps, Raymond J. Geor, Equine Exercise Physiology: The Science of Exercise in the Athletic Horse, Elsevier, page 154,The toelt is comfortable for the rider because the amplitude of the dorsoventral displacement is lower than at the trot....The slow trot is a two-beat symmetric diagonal gait. Among the normal variations of the trot of saddle horses, the speed of the gait increases from collected to extended trot.
      • 2009, Gordon Wright, George H. Morris, Learning To Ride, Hunt, And Show, page 65,To assume the correct position for the posting trot, first walk, with the body inclined forward in a posting position. Then put the horse into a slow or sitting trot at six miles an hour. Do not post.
    2. A gait of a person faster than a walk.
    3. A toddler.
    From 1854.
      • 1855, William Makepeace Thackeray, , 1869, The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray, Volume V: The Newcomes, Volume I, page 123,...but Ethel romped with the little children — the rosy little trots — and took them on her knees, and told them a thousand stories.
    1. (obsolete) A young animal.
    From 1895.
    1. (dance) A moderately rapid dance.
    2. (mildly disparaging) Short for Trotskyist
    3. (Australia, obsolete) A succession of heads thrown in a game of two-up.
    4. (Australia, New Zealand, with "good" or "bad") A run of luck or fortune.He′s had a good trot, but his luck will end soon.
      • 1994, Noel Virtue, Sandspit Crossing, page 34,It was to be a hugely special occasion, for apart from the picture shows at the Majestic, there was usually nothing at all going on in Sandspit to make anyone think they were on a good trot living there.
      • 2004, John Mosig, Ric Fallu, Australian Fish Farmer: A Practical Guide to Aquaculture, 2nd Edition, page 21,Should he or she be having a bad trot, the exchange rate will be higher than normal.

    Synonyms

    • (gait of an animal between walk and canter)
    • (ugly old woman) See
    • (gait of a person faster than a walk) jog

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. To walk rapidly.
    2. (intransitive, of a horse) To move at a gait between a walk and a canter.
    3. (transitive) To cause to move, as a horse or other animal, in the pace called a trot; to cause to run without galloping or cantering.

    Derived terms

    Synonyms

    • (to walk rapidly) jog, pace
      • See also ,

    Anagrams

    © Wiktionary
    • © 2013 - 2023 All Rights Reserved