/tɹaɪs/
OriginFrom Middle English trīcen, trice, trise (“to pull or push; to snatch away; to steal”), from Middle Dutch trīsen (“to hoist”) (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”).
- obsolete, transitiveTo pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply.
“The tent is made of light, close, unbleached duck, […] A window, six inches square, is fitted at the upper end with a flap to trice up or haul down.”
- transitiveTo drag or haul, especially with a rope; specifically (nautical) to haul or hoist and tie up by means of a rope.
“... the fold of his double chin hung like a bag triced up close under the hinge of his jaw.”
“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”
- Now only in the phrase in a trice: a very short time; the blink of an eye, an instant, a moment.
“Miſtruſtfully he truſteth, and he dreadingly did dare, / And fortie paſſions in a trice in him conſort and ſquare.”
“This is most ſtrange, that ſhe, who even but now / Was your beſt object, the argument of your praiſe, / Balme of your age, moſt beſt, moſt deereſt, / Should in this trice of time commit a thing / So m”
“He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade;”
- obsolete, rareA pulley, a windlass (“form of winch for lifting heavy weights, comprising a cable or rope wound around a cylinder”).
Formstrices(present, singular, third-person) · tricing(participle, present) · triced(participle, past) · triced(past) · trise(alternative) · trices(plural) · Trices(plural)