trifle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɹaɪfəl/
rhymes: -aɪfəl
Forms: form: trifles
Etymology: From Middle English trifle, trifel, triful, trefle, truyfle, trufful, from Old French trufle (“mockery”), a byform of trufe, truffe (“deception”), of uncertain origin.
Senses: examples: text: It is interesting to watch the surface joviality on screen while racism is layered between courses like soggy trifles.
ref: 2020 May 27, Kieran Yates, “Fifteen years of TV dinners: why Come Dine With Me has endured”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
coordinate_terms: tiramisu
bread pudding
glosses: An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
examples: text: Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmation strong / As proofs of holy writ.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
text: Olde Chaucer doth of Topas tell, / Mad Rablais of Pantagruell, / A latter third of Dowsabell, / With such poore trifles playing:
ref: 1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC:
text: [W]hen they had the Character and Honour of a VVoman at their Mercy, often times made it their Jest, and at least look’d upon it as a Trifle, and counted the Ruin of thoſe, they had had their VVill of, as a thing of no value.
ref: 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 34:
text: ‘And all about a rattle!’ said Alice, still hoping to make them a little ashamed of fighting for such a trifle.
ref: 1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:
glosses: Anything that is of little importance or worth.
examples: text: A trifle, some eight-penny matter.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
text: He told her of horses which he had bought for a trifle and sold for incredible sums […]
ref: 1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
text: What’s eighty dollars? A trifle. An insignificant sum.
ref: 1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter XXX, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 311:
text: “It was bad of me then not to send the fifteen hundred dollars. I assumed it would be a trifle.” / “Well, until a few months ago it was a trifle.”
ref: 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 462:
glosses: Anything that is of little importance or worth.
An insignificant amount of money.
examples: text: This Line leaves out […] Poplar and Black-vvall, vvhich are indeed contiguous, a Trifle of Ground excepted, and very populous.
ref: 1742, [Daniel Defoe], “Letter II. Containing A Description of the City of London.”, in A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] J[ohn] Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 90:
text: There was a good deal of rustling and whispering behind the curtain, a trifle of lamp smoke, and an occasional giggle from Amy […]
ref: 1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 2, in Little Women: […], 1st part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC:
text: “Take just a trifle of French mustard […]”
ref: 1932, Graham Greene, Stamboul Strain, London: Heinemann, Part 4, p. 180:
synonyms: word: smidgen
word: ace
word: tinge
word: atom
word: trace element
word: aught
word: bissel
word: bit
word: crumb
word: glimpse
word: dab
word: damn
word: dash
word: diddly
word: glint
word: dot
word: spatter
word: drop
word: dusting
word: fleck
word: hint
word: flip
word: flyspeck
word: grain
word: halfpennyworth
word: inch
word: iota
word: jot
word: lick
word: mite
word: modicum
word: molecule
word: morceau
word: morsel
word: mote
word: ooch
word: ounce
word: particle
word: pennyworth
word: piece
word: pinch
word: scantling
word: semblance
word: scent
word: scintilla
word: scooch
word: scrap
word: scruple
word: shred
word: skerrick
word: skoosh
word: skosh
word: sliver
word: smattering
word: smidge
word: smidgen
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: smithereen
word: soupçon
word: spark
word: speck
word: speckle
word: spot
word: sprinkle
word: sprinkling
word: strain
word: tad
word: tidbit
word: tidge
word: tittle
word: toddick
word: touch
word: trace
word: trifle
word: tuppence worth
word: vestige
word: whiff
word: whit
glosses: A very small amount (of something).
glosses: A particular kind of pewter.
glosses: Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.
Synonyms: word: bagatelle
word: bag of shells
word: bric-a-brac
word: dicky
word: dicky-bird
word: fico
word: fig
word: flyspeck
word: minuity
word: niff-naff
word: picayune
word: scuddick
word: sop
word: toy
word: trick
word: trifle
word: triviality
word: whiffle
word: white chip
Hypernyms: word: artifact
word: object
Hyponyms: word: freebie
word: small change
word: trinket
Derived terms: a trifle
Black Forest trifle
Related terms: word: easy thing
word: modicum