trice
/tɹaɪs/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms trices tricing triced trise
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply.
- verb (transitive) To drag or haul, especially with a rope; specifically (nautical) to haul or hoist and tie up by means of a rope.
- noun Now only in the phrase in a trice: a very short time; the blink of an eye, an instant, a moment.
- noun (obsolete, rare) A pulley, a windlass (“form of winch for lifting heavy weights, comprising a cable or rope wound around a cylinder”).
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
instant jiffy bat of an eye bit blink of an eye crack eyeblink flash glimpse half a mo jiff jot minute mo moment New York minute New York second no time sec second heartbeat split second twinkling wink trice up
Etymology
From 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”).
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.
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”); 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”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [Obs.]
- verb To haul and tie up by means of a rope.
- noun A very short time; an instant; a moment; --now used only in the phrase in a trice. "With a trice." Turbervile. " On a trice." Shak.
Etymology [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley, to trice, LG. trisse a pulley, D. trijsen to hoist.]
Etymology [Sp. tris the noise made by the breaking of glass, an instant, en un tris in an instant; probably of imitative origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “trice”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details