trip English · revision 2706

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1386, Chaucer|origins=dum trippen}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /trɪp/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|trippen|t=to tread lightly, skip]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|triper|t=to jump about, dance; to strike with the feet]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) treper, from a Germanic source,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) probably [[dum|trippen|t=to skip, hop]].^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) It is related to Low German trippeln and Dutch trappen “to tread”, and to [[m|ang|treppan|t=to tread, trample]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from the source of [[trap]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The noun is from the verb.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To move lightly and nimbly, to skip or dance: about 1386, in Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'',^(OED 1989) about 1390 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988) The noun, an act of tripping or a stumble, is from before 1420, in Lydgate's ''Troy Book'',^(Barnhart 1988) the early 14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Early on the word meant dancing and nimble movement as well as stumbling.^(Cresswell 2021) The senses “to stumble” and “to make someone stumble” are from the mid-15th century (about 1425 and 1440 in Barnhart).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The figurative “to err, go wrong” is from about 1500, and “to catch someone in a fault” from the 1550s.^(Etymonline) The noun meant a light, lively movement before it meant a journey;^(Cresswell 2021) a short run on land is from about 1440,^(OED 1989) and a short voyage between two points, originally a sailor's term, from 1691.^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021) The connection between the two senses is uncertain.^(Etymonline) An excursion for pleasure is from about 1749.^(OED 1989) To trip a catch or lever, releasing a mechanism, is a later technical sense.^(AHD)^(Etymonline) A drug-induced hallucination is from 1959 as a noun and 1966 as a verb.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1386 – to skip, dance.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1420 – noun, a stumble.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1425 – to make someone stumble.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1440 – a short journey on land.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1500 – to err.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1691 – a short voyage.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1749 – an excursion for pleasure.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1959 – a psychedelic drug experience.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[journey]] from one place to another, especially a short one.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A stumble or fall; a move that makes someone stumble.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A mistake, a [[blunder]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(slang)'' A [[hallucination|alt=hallucinatory]] experience caused by a [[psychedelic]] drug; any intense experience.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A device that releases a catch or mechanism.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To catch the foot and [[stumble]]; to make someone stumble.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To move with light, quick steps; to skip.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To make a mistake; to catch someone in one: ''tripped up by a question''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To release a catch or switch a mechanism on or off.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(slang)'' To have a drug-induced hallucination.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[round-trip]]

+ * [[trippy]]

+ * [[tripmeter]]

+ * [[atrip]]

+ * [[tripper]]

+ * [[tripwire]]

+ * [[trippant]]

+ * [[trip hammer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[trap]]

+ * [[tread]]

+ * [[trippingly]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate noun ''trip'', “a small flock of sheep or goats”, of unknown origin, is from 1305 and survived in dialect from Northern England to Wiltshire.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}