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TRIFLE - 3 definitions found
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Trifle \Tri"fle\, n. [OE. trifle, trufle, OF. trufle mockery, raillery, trifle, probably the same word as F. truffe truffle, the word being applied to any small or worthless object. See Truffle.] 1. A thing of very little value or importance; a paltry, or trivial, affair. With such poor trifles playing. --Drayton. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmation strong As proofs of holy writ. --Shak. Small sands the mountain, moments make year, And frifles life. --Young. 2. A dish composed of sweetmeats, fruits, cake, wine, etc., with syllabub poured over it. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Trifle \Tri"fle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Trifled; p. pr. & vb. n. Trifling.] [OE. trifelen, truflen. See Trifle, n.] To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight, or dignity; to act or talk with levity; to indulge in light or trivial amusements. They trifle, and they beat the air about nothing which toucheth us. --Hooker. To trifle with, to play the fool with; to treat without respect or seriousness; to mock; as, to trifle with one's feelings, or with sacred things. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Trifle \Tri"fle\, v. t. 1. To make of no importance; to treat as a trifle. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. To spend in vanity; to fritter away; to waste; as, to trifle away money. ``We trifle time.'' --Shak. |
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