trip

A journey; an excursion or jaunt.

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to trips (three of a kind).

Origin

From Middle English trippen (“tread or step lightly and nimbly, skip, dance”), perhaps from Old French triper (“to hop or dance around, strike with the feet”), from a Frankish source; or alternatively from Middle Dutch trippen (“to skip, trip, hop, stamp, trample”) (> Modern Dutch trippelen (“to toddle, patter, trip”)). Akin to Middle Low German trippen ( > Danish trippe (“to trip”), Swedish trippa (“to mince, trip”)), West Frisian tripje (“to toddle, trip”), German trippeln (“to scurry”), Old English treppan (“to trample, tread”). Related also to trap, tramp.

Noun Entry 2

  1. A journey; an excursion or jaunt.
    • We make annual trips to the museum.
    • I took a weekend trip to Seville.
    • They have been on a trip since last month.
  2. A stumble or misstep.
    • He was injured due to a trip down the stairs.
  3. An error; a failure; a mistake.
    • Imperfect words, with childish trips. - 1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […],...
    • Each seeming trip, and each digressive start. - 1767, Walter Harte, The amaranth; or, Religious poems:

    Synonyms: aberration bloomer blooper blunder boner boo-boo break clanger cock-up error fault faux pas floater flub fluff fuckup gaffe goof howler inaccuracy lapse lapsus mess-up misstep

  4. A period of time in which one experiences drug-induced reverie or hallucinations.
    • He had a strange trip after taking LSD.
    • Unlike other accepted stimuli, from nicotine to liquor, the hallucinogens promise those who take the “trip” a magic-carpet escape from dull reality in which perceptions are heightened, sense distorted, and the...
    • We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee / We don't take our trips on LSD - 1969, Merle Haggard, “Okie from Muskogee”:
  5. Intense involvement in or enjoyment of a condition.
    • ego trip
    • power trip
    • nostalgia trip
  6. A faux pas, a social error.
  7. A mechanical cutout device.
  8. A trip-switch or cut-out.
    • It's dark because the trip operated.
  9. A quick, light step; a lively movement of the feet; a skip.
    • His heart bounded as he sometimes could distinctly hear the trip of a light female step glide to or from the door. - 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify...
  10. The act of tripping someone, or causing them to lose their footing.
    • It is the sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground. - 1661 December 10, Robert South, False Foundations Removed […] :
    • And watches with a trip his foe to foil. - 1697, Virgil, “Georgic II”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
  11. A single tack while beating (sailing to windward).

Forms

trips

Hyponyms

bad trip boat trip bum trip business trip day trip ego trip fam trip field trip guilt trip head trip pleasure trip power trip road trip round trip school trip

Derived

businessman's trip daytrip facility trip foot trip have a safe trip home midtrip mistrip multitrip negatrip pretrip robotrip round-trip sidetrip tripcode trip computer trip cord trip down memory lane tripflare trip hammer trip hop triplike tripline trip log tripman

Noun Scotland, UK

  1. A herd or flock of sheep, goats, etc.
  2. A troop of men; a host.
  3. A flock of wigeons.

Origin

From Middle English tryppe, from Old French trippe. Possibly related to troop.

Forms

trips

Related

tray-trip

Verb

  1. To fall over or stumble over an object as a result of striking it with one's foot
    • Be careful not to trip on those tree roots. You tripped over the cat and fell downstairs just last week.
  2. To cause (a person or animal) to fall or stumble by knocking their feet from under them.
    • A pedestrian was able to trip the burglar as he was running away.
    • Early 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. - 1912 October, Edgar...
  3. To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc
    • And the Pharasay / Then durst nothynge say, / But let the matter slyp, / And made truth to tryp; - c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English...
    • [T]ill his Tongue trips - 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Remedies of the Imperfection and Abuse of Words”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset,...
    • A blind will thereupon comes to be led by a blind understanding; there is no remedy, but it must trip and stumble. - 1692–1717, Robert South, “Discourse upon 2 Thessalonians ii.II”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon...
  4. To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict.
    • These her women can trip me if I err. - 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:...
  5. 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.
  6. To be activated, as by a signal or an event
    • The alarm system tripped, throwing everyone into a panic.
  7. Of an electrical circuit, to trip out (through overload, a short circuit).
    • From the evidence of witnesses and of the recorded passing times, including the time at which the circuit breakers were tripped when the wires were brought down, the train was travelling at a speed of not less than 70...
    • The 25kV had repeatedly tripped and the two had split from a larger group to operate an overhead line isolating switch. - 2023 August 23, “Network News: CCTV helps save track workers from being struck by train”, in...
  8. 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.
    • So, I went to the doctor, see what he could give me / He said, "Son, son, you've gone too far / 'Cause smokin' and trippin’ is all that you do," / Yeeeeeeaaaaaah - 1970, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Ozzy...
  9. To journey, to make a trip.
    • Last summer, we tripped to the coast.
  10. To move with light, quick steps; to walk or move lightly; to skip.
    • Come, and trip it, as ye go, / On the light fantastic toe. - a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:
    • She bounded by, and tripped so light / They had not time to take a steady sight. - 1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […]...
    • A bright beautiful face glanced out at the window, and vanished—a light footstep was heard—and Mary came tripping forth to meet us. - 1819 June 23, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Wife”, in The...
  11. To raise (an anchor) from the bottom, by its cable or buoy rope, so that it hangs free.
  12. To pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering it.

Forms

trips tripping tripped

Derived

atrip mistrip overtrip trip balls tripcock trip from the tongue Tripgate trip off the tongue trip out trip over trip over oneself trip over one's feet trip over one's own two feet trippable trippant tripper trippy trip the light fantastic trip up tripwire trip wire untrip