trickle (redirected from trickling down)

trickle away

[for a liquid] to seep or dribble away. All the water trickled away down the drain. After the last of the spilled milk had trickled away, Timmy began to cry.

See also: away

trickle down (to someone or something)

1. Lit. [for a liquid] to seep or dribble downward to reach someone or something. The water trickled down the wall to the floor. It trickled down very slowly.

2. Fig. [for something] to be distributed to someone or something in little bits at a time. The results of the improved economy trickled down to people at lower-income levels. Information about what happened finally trickled down to me.

trickle in (to something)

1. Lit. [for a liquid] to seep or dribble into something or a place. Some of the rainwater trickled into my car through a leak. It trickled in during the night.

2. Fig. [for someone or something] to come into something or a place, a few at a time. The audience trickled into the hall little by little. They trickled in over a period of an hour or more.

trickle out (of something)

1. Lit. [for a liquid] to leak or dribble out of something or a place. The oil trickled out of the engine little by little. It trickled out and made a puddle on the floor.

2. Fig. [for someone or something] to go out of something or a place, a few at a time. The dissatisfied members of the audience trickled out of the theater three and four at a time. They trickled out as the evening wore on.

See also: out

trickle through (something)

1. Lit. [for a liquid] to seep through something. The water trickled through the cracked windowpane. They taped the glass, but the water trickled through anyway.

2. Fig. [for someone or something] to move through something little by little. The people trickled through the door into the store in far smaller numbers than we had expected. They trickled through very slowly.

See also: through