trig

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /tɹɪɡ/, [t̠ʰɹ̠̊ɪɡ]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡ

Etymology 1

From Middle English trig, tryg, from Old Norse tryggr (“loyal, faithful, true”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (“loyal, faithful, true”). Cognate with Old English trīewe (“faithful, loyal, true”). More at true.

Adjective

trig (comparative trigger, superlative triggest) (now chiefly dialectal)

1. True; trusty; trustworthy; faithful.
2. Safe; secure.
3. Tight; firm; steady; sound; in good condition or health.
   • 2019, Robert Eggers, Max Eggers, The Lighthouse (motion picture), spoken by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe):

     Aye, the Chicopee, a fine-un, she were. Clean-built and trig-lookin’! None more fleet in ‘64 than she...

4. Neat; tidy; trim; spruce; smart.
   • 1857, J. Rarey, “The Taming of Horses”, in British Quarterly Review:

     we possess of pig's skin and stirrups to keep them square and trig

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].

   • 1973, Newsweek, April 16

     The [torture] stories seemed incongruent with the men telling them – a trim, trig lot who, given a few pounds more flesh, might have stepped right out of a recruiting poster.

5. Active; clever.

Translations

firm, true, steady

• Finnish: vankka (fi), vakaa (fi)

Noun

trig (plural trigs)

1. (now chiefly dialectal) A dandy; coxcomb.

Etymology 2

Clipping of trigonometry.

Noun

trig (countable and uncountable, plural trigs)

1. (uncountable, informal) Trigonometry.
2. (surveying, countable, informal) A trig point.

Derived terms

• trig identity
• trig pillar

 

Translations

trig — see also trigonometry

• Finnish: no equivalent term in Finnish, but see trigonometria (fi)
• French: trigo (fr) f

Etymology 3

See trigger.

Noun

trig (plural trigs)

1. (UK) A stone, block of wood, or anything else, placed under a wheel or barrel to prevent motion; a scotch; a skid.
   • 1850, Sylvester Judd, Richard Edney and the Governor's Family:

     You might as well smite that saw with your fist ; you might as well put a trig under the dam and stop it, as to practise on him

2. The mark for players at skittles, etc.

Verb

trig (third-person singular simple present trigs, present participle trigging, simple past and past participle trigged)

1. (transitive) To stop (a wheel, barrel, etc.) by placing something under it; to scotch; to skid.

Etymology 4

Compare Danish trykke (“to press”).

Verb

trig (third-person singular simple present trigs, present participle trigging, simple past and past participle trigged)

1. To fill; to stuff; to cram.
   • 1660, H[enry] More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; […], London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for W[illiam] Morden […], →OCLC:

     By how much more a mans skin is full treg'd with flesh, blood and natural Spirits.

Etymology 5

Clipping.

Noun

trig (plural trigs)

1. (medicine, informal) Triglyceride.

References

• “trig”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Grit, girt, grit

Old English

Alternative forms

• treġ

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *trugaz, *trugą, *truh-, *trauh-, *trawją, from Proto-Indo-European *drAuk(')- (“a type of vessel”). Akin to Old English trōg (“trough”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trij/

Noun

triġ n

1. a wooden board with a low rim, tray

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	triġ	triġu
accusative	triġ	triġu
genitive	triġes	triġa
dative	triġe	triġum

Synonyms

• trēġ
• trog