trim
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɹɪm/
ipa: [t̠ʰɹ̠̊ɪm]
rhymes: -ɪm
Forms: form: trims
Etymology: From Middle English trimen, trymen, trümen, from Old English trymman (“to make firm; strengthen”), from Proto-West Germanic *trummjan, from Proto-Germanic *trumjaną (“to make fast; strengthen”), from Proto-Germanic *trumaz (“firm; strong; sound”).
Senses: examples: text: Paint the house white with blue trim.
glosses: Decoration; especially, decoration placed along edges or borders.
examples: text: I went to the hairdresser for a trim but came back nearly bald.
glosses: A haircut, especially a moderate one to touch up an existing style.
examples: text: It was the Winter wilde.
While the Heav’n-born-childe,
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies:
Nature in aw to him
Had doff't her gawdy trim,
With her great Maſter ſo to ſympathize:
It was no ſeaſon then for her
To wanton with the Sun her luſty Paramour.
ref: 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC, page 2:
text: seeing him just pass the window in his woodland trim
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:
glosses: Dress; gear; ornaments.
examples: text: to be in good trim
text: The measure and whole trim of comeliness
ref: 1614, George Chapman, Andromeda Liberata:
text: In addition to the numerous traction aspects of the unit's restoration, the team had to create a trim shop in the depot to re-upholster hundreds of seat components.
ref: 2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Railway's fragile resilience”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 3:
glosses: The manner in which something is equipped or adorned; order; disposition.
examples: text: Holonyms: make; model
text: Near-synonym: submodel
text: This model of car comes in three different trims.
text: If you want air conditioning, you'll need to move up to the next trim level.
text: Of the many strategic blunders [Carlos] Tavares made during his four-year reign over what was once a $93 billion conglomerate, perhaps his most egregious was the mismanagement of Jeep, Stellantis' crown jewel. He jacked up prices and increased production of Jeep's most expensive trims, without adequately investing in new products, which left gaping holes in an aging lineup and swelling inventory on dealer lots. The extent of the damage became clear in July 2024, when Stellantis reported that its net income had been cut almost in half. By September, exasperated dealers sent an open letter to Tavares accusing him of destroying the company's brands.
ref: 2025 September 11, Gabrielle Coppola, Albertina Torsoli, “The Corporate Saga Behind Jeep's Downfall. An iconic brand mismanaged by a French-Italian-American auto conglomerate, a profit-obsessed CEO and a billionaire dynasty. And that was before Stellantis collided with Trump's trade war”, in Bloomberg Businessweek:
text: Now, it [Tesla Inc] has unveiled two long-awaited cheaper electric vehicles that are most definitely not the game-changers once promised. But are they enough to do the job? It depends on what that job is. […] The models — or rather, trims, since they aren’t new vehicles — unveiled Tuesday are about taking away, not adding. […] there has been a steady drumbeat of positive Tesla news since the shareholder proxy containing the compensation vote came out. This includes includes Musk buying a nominal amount of shares, pulled-forward third quarter EV sales, the first big update of the Full Self Driving software since 2024, and now these new trims — despite signaling enervation rather than innovation. It is here that Tesla's latest additions may do the job even if they don't light up the forecourt.
ref: 2025 October 7, Liam Denning, “Musk's Cheap Teslas Are the Wrong Kind of Cheap”, in Bloomberg Opinion, retrieved 07 Oct 2025:
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: The manner in which something is equipped or adorned; order; disposition.
Features optionally available on a vehicle; an established configuration of such features within a model (a trim level).
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The state of adjustment of control surfaces such that the desired attitude can be maintained without requiring the continuous application of force to the cockpit controls.
raw_tags: of an aircraft
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The mechanism(s) used to trim an aircraft in roll, pitch, and/or yaw.
glosses: The female genitalia.
examples: text: "Take me somewhere."
His response lacked dignity, but in fairness to him I admit that I had left him little chance to be suave.
He asked, "You mean, you’re going to give me some trim?"
ref: 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 35, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 239–240:
glosses: Sexual intercourse with a woman.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The fore-and-aft angle of the vessel to the water, with reference to the cargo and ballast; the manner in which a vessel floats on the water, whether on an even keel or down by the head or stern.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: The arrangement of the sails with reference to the wind.
topics: media
printing
publishing
qualifier: binding
glosses: Any of the three cut edges of book pages, trimmed with a shear after binding.
topics: diving
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
underwater-diving
glosses: The horizontal position of an underwater water
Derived terms: in fighting trim
out of trim
trim line
trim party
trim tab
trim trail
trim-tram