trip

Etymology 1

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

1. A journey; an excursion or jaunt.
   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, 1918, Ralph Henry Barbour, Lost Island
2. A stumble or misstep.
   He was injured due to a trip down the stairs.
3. (figurative, archaic) An error; a failure; a mistake.
   Each seeming trip, and each digressive start. 1767, Walter Harte, The amaranth; or, Religious poems
4. (colloquial) 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 imagination permanently bedazzled with ecstatic visions of teleological verity. 1967, Joe David Brown, editor, The Hippies, New York: Time, Inc, page 2
   We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee / We don't take our trips on LSD 1969, Merle Haggard (lyrics and music), “Okie from Muskogee”
5. (by extension) Intense involvement in or enjoyment of a condition.
   ego trip
   power trip
   nostalgia trip
   guilt trip
6. A faux pas, a social error.
7. (engineering) A mechanical cutout device.
8. (electricity) 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.
   trip the light fantastic
10. (obsolete) A small piece; a morsel; a bit.
11. 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. December 10 1661, Robert South, False Foundations Removed[…]
12. (nautical) A single board, or tack, in plying, or beating, to windward.

verb

1. (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.
2. (transitive, sometimes followed by "up") 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.
3. (intransitive) To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc
4. (transitive, obsolete) To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict.
5. (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.
6. (intransitive) 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 m.p.h. 1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Derailment near Holmes Chapel”, in Trains Illustrated, page 652
   The 25kV had repeatedly tripped and the two had split from a larger group to operate an overhead line isolating switch. August 23 2023, “Network News: CCTV helps save track workers from being struck by train”, in RAIL, number 990, page 10
8. (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.
   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 Osbourne (lyrics and music), “Fairies Wear Boots”, in Paranoid, performed by Black Sabbath
9. (intransitive) To journey, to make a trip.
   Last summer, we tripped to the coast.
10. (intransitive, dated) To move with light, quick steps; to walk or move lightly; to skip.
11. (nautical) To raise (an anchor) from the bottom, by its cable or buoy rope, so that it hangs free.
12. (nautical) To pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering it.
13. (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.
    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 2003, “What's a Pimp?”, in Married to the Game, performed by Too $hort

adj

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

Etymology 2

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

noun

1. (obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect) A herd or flock of sheep, goats, etc.
2. (obsolete) A troop of men; a host.
3. A flock of wigeons.