trice

See also: -trice

English
WOTD – 27 December 2018

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English trīcen, trice, trise (“to pull or push; to snatch away; to steal”), from Middle Dutch trīsen (“to hoist”)[1] (modern Dutch trijsen) or Middle Low German trissen (“to trice the spritsail”); further etymology uncertain. The word is cognate with Danish trisse, tridse (“to haul with a pulley”), Low German trissen, tryssen, drisen, drysen (“to wind up, trice”), German trissen, triezen (“to annoy or torment”).[2]

Verb

trice (third-person singular simple present trices, present participle tricing, simple past and past participle triced)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply.
  2. (transitive) To drag or haul, especially with a rope; specifically (nautical) to haul or hoist and tie up by means of a rope.
    • 1911, Arthur H[amilton] Clark, “California Clippers of 1852—The ‘Sovereign of the Seas’”, in The Clipper Ship Era: An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews 1843–1869, New York, N.Y.; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons […], OCLC 559490751, page 215:
      One of the two men landed had shot and wounded the mate, and the other, known as "Doublin Jack," had knocked the second mate down with a handspike. Captain Low put both these men in irons, triced them up in the mizzen rigging, and gave them each four dozen lashes of ratline stuff, which they had well earned.
Alternative forms
  • trise (obsolete)
Translations
to pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply — See also translations at pull

Etymology 2

From Middle English trīce, trise, in the phrase at a trīce (“with a single, quick motion; at once”, literally “with a pull or jerk”), later also in the phrases in a trice, on a trice, and with a trice. The word is ultimately from Middle English trīcen: see etymology 1 above.[3]

Noun

trice (plural trices)

  1. Now only in the term in a trice: a very short time; an instant, a moment.
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English trīce, tryys, tryyst, from Middle Dutch trīse, trijs (modern Dutch trijs (“hoisting-block, pulley, windlass”)) or Middle Low German trīsse, trītse (“hoisting-rope, tackle”);[4] probably related to the verb trice (see etymology 1 above), and perhaps to Old English tryndel (“roller, wheel”) (see further at trend, trindle). The English word is cognate with Danish tridse, trisse (“pulley”), Low German trissel (“dizziness; whirling”), German trieze (“crane; pulley”), Norwegian triss (“pulley”), Swedish trissa (“pulley, truckle”).[5]

Noun

trice (plural trices)

  1. (obsolete, rare) A pulley, a windlass (“form of winch for lifting heavy weights, comprising a cable or rope wound around a cylinder”).

References
  1. “trīcen, v.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 August 2018.
  2. “trice, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914.
  3. “trīce, n.(2)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 August 2018; “trice, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914.
  4. “trīce, n.(1)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 August 2018.
  5. Compare “trice, n.1”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914.

Further reading

Anagrams

Scottish Gaelic

Adjective

trice

  1. Comparative form of tric.

Adverb

trice

  1. Comparative form of tric.
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