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Origin and history of trip

trip(v.)

late 14c., trippen, "move lightly and nimbly on the feet; skip, dance briskly, caper," from Old French triper "jump around, dance around, strike with the feet" (12c.), from a Germanic source (compare Middle Dutch trippen "to skip, trip, hop; to stamp, trample," Low German trippeln, Frisian tripje, Dutch trappen, Old English treppan "to tread, trample").

The group is reconstructed to be from the source of trap (n.1) and related to other Germanic words for "stair, step, tread" (compare tread (v.)). Related: Tripped; tripping.

The senses of "to stumble so as to lose one's balance" (intransitive), "strike with the foot and cause to stumble" (transitive) are from mid-15c. in English. The figurative meaning "make a false movement, err, go wrong" is from c. 1500; transitive, "overthrow by catching in a fault or blunder, 1550s.

The meaning "to release" (a catch, lever, etc.) is recorded from 1897 (in reference to a camera); trip-wire is attested from 1868.

The old sense of "dance, caper, move nimbly" was common in the Elizabethan dramatists ("Trip it, gipsies, trip it fine") and is preserved in the archaism trip the light fantastic (toe) for "to dance," based on a couplet from Milton:

Come and trip it, as you go,

On the light fantastic toe ;

["L'Allegro"]

The short version, omitting toe, is attested by 1847. He has a similar phrasing in the invitation to the dance in "Comus":

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground

In a light fantastic round.

By 1966 as "experience hallucinations from a drug." A Robert Tripknave turns up in a document from 1315.

also from late 14c.

trip(n.)

"act or action of tripping" (transitive), early 14c., from trip (v.); the sense of "a short journey or voyage" is from mid-15c.; the exact connection to the earlier sense is uncertain. The meaning "psychedelic drug experience" is attested from 1959 as a noun; the verb in this sense is from 1966, from the noun.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to trip

trap(n.1)

"contrivance for catching unawares," Middle English trappe, from late Old English træppe, treppe "snare, trap" (for taking game or other animals), from Proto-Germanic *trep- (source also of Middle Dutch trappe "trap, snare"), related to Germanic words for "stair, step, tread" (Middle Dutch, Middle Low German trappe, treppe, German Treppe "step, stair," English tread (v.)).

This is probably (Watkins) literally "that on or into which one steps," from PIE *dreb-, an extended form of a root *der- (1), base of words meaning "to run, walk, step." The English word also is probably akin to Old French trape, Spanish trampa "trap, pit, snare," but the exact relationship is uncertain.

Figurative use is by c. 1200 in theology. The sense of "deceitful practice, device or contrivance to betray one unawares" is recorded from c. 1400.

The meaning "U-shaped section of a drain pipe," to prevent passage of air or gases through the pipe, is from 1833. The slang meaning "mouth" is attested by 1776.

It is attested from 1590s as the name of the pivoted wooden instrument used to throw in the game of trap-ball (short for trap-stick; trap-sticks as a figure of thin legs is by 1714). By 1812 it was extended to any device for sudden throwing or releasing by means of a spring, etc. Hence trap-shooting (by 1892).

In some specialized senses it has converged with provincial trap words for "stairs" from Low German and Scandinavian (see trap (n.2)). Also compare rattletrap.

tread(v.)

Middle English treden (past tense trad, past participle troden), from Old English tredan "go by feet, walk; step on, trample; traverse, pass through or over" (class V strong verb; past tense træd, past participle treden), from Proto-Germanic *tred- (source also of Old Saxon tredan, Old Frisian treda, Middle Dutch treden, Old High German tretan, German treten, Gothic trudan, Old Norse troða). This is said by Watkins to be from PIE *der- (1) "assumed base of roots meaning 'to run, walk, step.' " Related: Trod; treaded; treading.

Especially "crush with the feet, thresh grain, press grapes" (late 14c.). In reference to a male bird, especially a domestic cock, "to copulate, cover (a female)," early 14c.; hence treader, treading-fowl, treadfowl, "vigorously sexual male bird," also used of men.

To tread a measure "dance" is from 1590s. To tread water in swimming, "move the feet and hands regularly up and down while keeping the body in an erect position in order to keep the head above the water," is attested by 1764. To tread the stage "perform in a drama" is by 1690s (as tread the boards by 1858). To tread (one's) shoe amiss, said of a woman, was an old euphemism for "be unchaste" (late 14c.).