3. To take a quick step, as when in danger of losing one's balance; hence, to make a false step; to catch
the foot; to lose footing; to stumble.
4. Fig.: To be guilty of a misstep; to commit an offense against morality, propriety, or rule; to err; to mistake; to
fail. "Till his tongue trip." Locke.
A blind will thereupon comes to be led by a blind understanding; there is no remedy, but it must trip and
stumble.
South.
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.
Dryden.
What? dost thou verily trip upon a word?
R. Browning. Trip
(Trip), v. t.
1. To cause to stumble, or take a false step; to cause to lose the footing, by striking the feet from under; to
cause to fall; to throw off the balance; to supplant; — often followed by up; as, to trip up a man in wrestling.
The words of Hobbes's defense trip up the heels of his cause.
Abp. Bramhall. 2. Fig.: To overthrow by depriving of support; to put an obstacle in the way of; to obstruct; to cause to fail.
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword.
Shak. 3. To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict. [R.]
These her women can trip me if I err.
Shak. 4. (Naut.) (a) To raise (an anchor) from the bottom, by its cable or buoy rope, so that it hangs free.
(b) To pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering it.
5. (Mach.) To release, let fall, or set free, as a weight or compressed spring, as by removing a latch or
detent.
Trip
(Trip), n.
1. A quick, light step; a lively movement of the feet; a skip.
His heart bounded as he sometimes could hear the trip of a light female step glide to or from the door.
Sir W. Scott. 2. A brief or rapid journey; an excursion or jaunt.
I took a trip to London on the death of the queen.
Pope. 3. A false step; a stumble; a misstep; a loss of footing or balance. Fig.: An error; a failure; a mistake.
Imperfect words, with childish trips.
Milton.
Each seeming trip, and each digressive start.
Harte. 4. A small piece; a morsel; a bit. [Obs.] "A trip of cheese." Chaucer.
