/ trɪp; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
a journey to a place and back again, especially a short one for pleasure or a particular purpose :
Did you have a good trip?
We went on a trip to the mountains.
a day trip (= lasting a day)
a boat / coach trip
a business / school / shopping trip
They took a trip down the river.
We had to make several trips to bring all the equipment over.
—see also ego trip , field trip , round trip
2.
( slang ) the experience that sb has if they take a powerful drug that affects the mind and makes them imagine things :
an acid (= LSD) trip
3.
an act of falling or nearly falling down, because you hit your foot against sth
•
IDIOMS
see guilt
■ verb ( -pp- )
1.
[ v , often + adv. / prep. ] trip (over / up) | trip (over / on sth) to catch your foot on sth and fall or almost fall :
She tripped and fell.
Someone will trip over that cable.
Be careful you don't trip up on the step.
( figurative )
2.
[ vn ] ( BrE also trip sb up ) to catch sb's foot and make them fall or almost fall :
As I passed, he stuck out a leg and tried to trip me up.
3.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] ( literary ) to walk, run or dance with quick light steps :
She said goodbye and tripped off along the road.
( figurative )
4.
[ vn ] to release a switch, etc. or to operate sth by doing so :
to trip a switch
Any intruders will trip the alarm.
5.
[ v ] ( informal ) to be under the influence of a drug that makes you hallucinate
•
IDIOMS
see memory lane , tongue noun
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- trip up | trip sb up
••
SYNONYMS
trip
journey ♦ tour ♦ expedition ♦ excursion ♦ outing ♦ day out
These are all words for an act of travelling to a place.
trip
an act of travelling from one place to another, and usually back again:
a business trip
•
a five-minute trip by taxi
journey
an act of travelling from one place to another, especially when they are a long way apart:
a long and difficult journey across the mountains
trip or journey?
Trip , not journey , is the most basic word in this group. It is more frequent than journey and used in a wider range of contexts. A trip usually involves you going to a place and back again; a journey is usually one-way. A trip is often shorter than a journey , although it does not have to be:
a trip to New York
•
a round-the-world trip
. It is often short in time, even if it is long in distance. Journey is more often used when the travelling takes a long time and is difficult. In North American English journey is not used for short trips: ( BrE )
What is your journey to work like?
tour
a journey made for pleasure during which several different places are visited:
a tour of Bavaria
expedition
an organized journey with a particular purpose, especially to find out about a place that is not well known:
the first expedition to the South Pole
excursion
a short trip made for pleasure, especially one that has been organized for a group of people:
We went on an all-day excursion to the island.
outing
a short trip made for pleasure or education, usually with a group of people and lasting no more than a day:
The children were on a day's outing from school.
day out
a trip to somewhere for a day, especially for pleasure:
We had a day out at the beach.
PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS :
to go on a(n) trip / journey / tour / expedition / excursion / outing / day out
to set out / off on a(n) trip / journey / tour / expedition / excursion
to make a(n) trip / journey / tour / expedition / excursion
to be away on a(n) trip / journey / tour / expedition
the outward / return / homeward trip / journey
a(n) foreign / overseas / round-the-world trip / journey / tour / expedition
a bus / coach trip / journey / tour / excursion
a train / rail trip / journey / tour / excursion
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WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : from Old French triper , from Middle Dutch trippen to skip, hop.