Etimology
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
trip (plural trips)
A journey; an excursion or jaunt.
A stumble or misstep.
(figurative, archaic) An error; a failure; a mistake.
(colloquial) A period of time in which one experiences drug-induced reverie or hallucinations.
(by extension) Intense involvement in or enjoyment of a condition.
A faux pas, a social error.
(engineering) A mechanical cutout device.
(electricity) A trip-switch or cut-out.
A quick, light step; a lively movement of the feet; a skip.
(obsolete) A small piece; a morsel; a bit.
The act of tripping someone, or causing them to lose their footing.
(nautical) A single board, or tack, in plying, or beating, to windward.
Examples
We made a trip to the beach.
I sold my horse and took a trip to Ceylon and back on an Orient boat as a passenger,
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.
He was injured due to a trip down the stairs.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:error
Imperfect words, with childish trips.
Each seeming trip, and each digressive start.
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 imagination permanently bedazzled with ecstatic visions of teleological verity.
We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee / We don't take our trips on LSD
ego trip
power trip
nostalgia trip
guilt trip
Many of them admit to having suppressed any tendency toward homosexual behavior for the greater part of their lives—yet—denial becomes too heavy a trip after a period of time, and eventually curiosity wins out.
It's dark because the trip operated.
trip the light fantastic
His heart bounded as he sometimes could distinctly hear the trip of a light female step glide to or from the door.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum
It is the sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground.
And watches with a trip his foe to foil.
Related words
hyponyms
bad trip
boat 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
verb
trip (third-person singular simple present trips, present participle tripping, simple past and past participle tripped)
(intransitive) To fall over or stumble over an object as a result of striking it with one's foot
(transitive, sometimes followed by "up") To cause (a person or animal) to fall or stumble by knocking their feet from under them.
(intransitive) To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc
(transitive, obsolete) To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict.
(transitive) To activate or set in motion, as in the activation of a trap, explosive, or switch.
(intransitive) To be activated, as by a signal or an event
Of an electrical circuit, to trip out (through overload, a short circuit).
(intransitive) To experience a state of reverie or to hallucinate, due to consuming psychoactive drugs.
(intransitive) To journey, to make a trip.
(intransitive, dated) To move with light, quick steps; to walk or move lightly; to skip.
(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.
(slang, African-American Vernacular, most commonly used in the form tripping) To become unreasonably upset, especially over something unimportant; to cause a scene or a disruption.
Examples
Be careful not to trip on the tree roots.
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.
And the Pharasay / Then durst nothynge say, / But let the matter slyp, / And made truth to tryp;
[T]ill his Tongue trips
A blind will thereupon comes to be led by a blind understanding; there is no remedy, but it must trip and stumble.
Virgil 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.
These her women can trip me if I err.
When we get into the factory, trip the lights.
The alarm system tripped, throwing everyone into a panic.
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 m.p.h.
The 25kV had repeatedly tripped and the two had split from a larger group to operate an overhead line isolating switch.
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
Last summer, we tripped to the coast.
Come, and trip it, as ye go, / On the light fantastic toe.
She bounded by, and tripped so light / They had not time to take a steady sight.
A bright beautiful face glanced out at the window, and vanished—a light footstep was heard—and Mary came tripping forth to meet us.
If she ain't with it, I find another little chick / I'm quick to switch, even when I was six / I had a backup bitch, when my bitch would trip / I'd go play with my other girlfriend and get me a kiss / And at the age of thirty-six I'm to the same old tricks
adjective
trip (not comparable)
(poker slang) Of or relating to trips (three of a kind).
Etimology
From Middle English tryppe, from Old French trippe. Possibly related to troop.
noun
trip (plural trips)
(obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect) A herd or flock of sheep, goats, etc.
(obsolete) A troop of men; a host.
A flock of wigeons.