v. & n.
v.intr. & tr. (tripped, tripping) 1 intr. a walk or dance with quick light steps. b (of a rhythm etc.) run lightly. 2 a intr. & tr. (often foll. by up) stumble or cause to stumble, esp. by catching or entangling the feet. b intr. & tr. (foll. by up) make or cause to make a slip or blunder. 3 tr. detect (a person) in a blunder. 4 intr. make an excursion to a place. 5 tr. release (part of a machine) suddenly by knocking aside a catch etc. 6 a release and raise (an anchor) from the bottom by means of a cable. b turn (a yard etc.) from a horizontal to a vertical position for lowering. 7 intr. colloq. have a hallucinatory experience caused by a drug.
n. 1 a journey or excursion, esp. for pleasure. 2 a a stumble or blunder. b the act of tripping or the state of being tripped up. 3 a nimble step. 4 colloq. a hallucinatory experience caused by a drug. 5 a contrivance for a tripping mechanism etc. trip-hammer a large tilt-hammer operated by tripping. trip-wire a wire stretched close to the ground, operating an alarm etc. when disturbed.
[ ME f. OF triper, tripper, f. MDu. trippen skip, hop ]