trip

1. verb, slang To have an intense hallucinatory experience as a result of a psychoactive drug. A: "What's wrong with Bill?" B: "He's tripping pretty hard on mushrooms." I took too much acid the first time I tried it. I was still tripping nearly 18 hours later!

2. noun, slang A drug-induced hallucinatory experience. I need to wait until this trip wears off before I go anywhere. I had a really bad trip once. I thought I was being chased by man-eating monkeys through a forest made of chocolate!

3. noun, slang An especially exciting, stimulating, or intense experience. Man, living in Japan for six months was a trip! Everything is so different over there! A: "Well, what did you think of skydiving?" B: "Wow, what a trip. I don't think I've ever had so much adrenaline rushing through my body before!"

4. noun, slang An experience typified by a particular aspect or motivation. Used in combinations. Sarah has been on a real power trip ever since she was promoted. You can tell these meetings are mostly just ego trips for the boss.

5. noun, slang A particularly trying, exasperating, or unpleasant person or thing. The new manager is a trip, huh? I hope he chills out soon. Putting my new computer together on my own was a real trip. It took me nearly eight hours before I got it up and running!

trip along

1. To stumble over the length of (something). He tripped along the edge of the pool, very nearly falling in.

2. To skip merrily onward. It was an idyllic scene—walking hand in hand with my wife as the kids tripped along beside us.

trip balls

rude slang To become intoxicated from a hallucinatory or psychoactive drug. Oh, Jim? Don't worry, he took some acid and is kind of tripping balls, but he'll be fine in a few hours.

trip off the tongue

To be very easy or enjoyable to say. When you name your food truck, make sure it's something that trips off the tongue so that people will remember it. The book is a joy to read aloud. The passages just trip off the tongue.

trip on (someone or something)

1. Literally, to bump into someone or something with one's foot and stumble or fall as a result. He tripped on the step running up the stairs and fell face first on the hallway. She tiptoed out of the room, trying not to trip on anyone as she left.

2. slang To experience the psychotropic effects, especially audio or visual hallucination, of some drug. Don't listen to him—he's been tripping on acid for the last three hours. We spent the weekend tripping on mushrooms while we went on hikes so we could better appreciate nature's beauty.

trip out

slang To become intoxicated from a hallucinatory or psychoactive drug. Oh, Jim? Don't worry, he took some acid and is kind of tripping out, but he'll be fine in a few hours.

trip over (one's) tongue

To have difficulty saying or enunciating something. Any time I try to speak French, I still find myself tripping over my tongue. Sally said something nice about me? Did she trip over her tongue in doing it?

trip over (someone or something)

1. To trip or stumble and almost fall as a result of bumping into someone or something with one's feet. I tripped over a box someone had set down in the hallway. She tripped over the people sleeping on the living room floor as she made her way to the kitchen.

2. To push and shove other people out of the way, as to get some place or in order to do something. People were tripping over each other to get their pictures taken with the famous actor. The kids tripped over each other to get into the ice cream parlor.

3. To have difficulty saying something clearly or correctly; to stutter or stammer while trying to say something. The actors tripped over their lines and talked over each other constantly. They really needed more time to rehearse. He tried asking her on a date, but he was so nervous that he kept tripping over his words.

trip the light fantastic

To dance. Taken from the John Milton poem L'Allegro: "Come and trip it as ye go / On the light fantastic toe." Of course, the best part of a wedding is when everyone trips the light fantastic into the wee hours of the morning.

See also: fantastic, light, trip

trip up

1. To trip, stumble, or lose one's footing. You're going to trip up walking around with your shoelaces untied like that!

2. To cause someone to trip, stumble, or lose their footing. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "trip" and "up." Kids, don't go running around me while I'm cooking, or you might trip me up! He was given a yellow card for tripping up the other player.

3. To falter, stammer, hesitate, or make an error, mistake, or blunder. I tripped up during the presentation when I started reading off the wrong card.

4. To cause someone to falter, hesitate, or make an error. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "trip" and "up." She always tries to trip up her opponents with taunts and mind games. The crowd's boos and jeers really tripped me up during my turn.

See also: trip, up

trip along

to move along happily. The kids tripped along on their way to school. We were just tripping along, not having any notion of what was about to happen.

trip someone up

1. Lit. to cause someone to trip; to entangle someone's feet. (Someone includes oneself.) The rope strewn about the deck tripped him up. The lines tripped up the crew.

2. Fig. to cause someone to falter while speaking, thinking, etc. Mary came in while the speaker was talking and the distraction tripped him up. The noise in the audience tripped up the speaker.

See also: trip, up

trip the light fantastic

Jocular to dance. Shall we go trip the light fantastic?

See also: fantastic, light, trip

trip the light fantastic

Dance, as in Let's go out tonight and trip the light fantastic. This expression was originated by John Milton in L'Allegro (1632): "Come and trip it as ye go, On the light fantastick toe." The idiom uses trip in the sense of "a light, tripping step," and although fantastick was never the name of any particular dance, it survived and was given revived currency in James W. Blake's immensely popular song, The Sidewalks of New York (1894).

See also: fantastic, light, trip

trip up

Make or cause someone to make a mistake, as in The other finalist tripped up when he was asked to spell "trireme," or They tripped him up with that difficult question. [Second half of 1700s]

See also: trip, up

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

trip the light fantastic

dance. humorous

This expression comes from the invitation to dance in John Milton 's poem ‘L'Allegro’ ( 1645 ): ‘Come, and trip it as ye go On the light fantastic toe’.

See also: fantastic, light, trip

trip up

1. To stumble or fall: I tripped up walking upstairs and hurt my ankle.

2. To cause someone to stumble or fall: The soccer player tripped up her opponent with a slide tackle. The broken stair tripped him up.

3. To make a mistake: I would have done better on the test if I hadn't tripped up on the last section.

4. To cause someone to make a mistake: His inability to focus on his work trips him up every time. The unclear phrasing of the question tripped her up.

See also: trip, up

trip

1. n. a prison sentence; a trip up the river. (Underworld.) Yeah, me and Lefty both was on a little trip for a few years.

2. n. a high from a drug. (Drugs.) Me and Sid went on a little trip.

3. in. to experience a high from a drug, especially LSD. Don’t bother Bart. He’s tripping.

4. n. a bad drug experience. (Drugs.) Boy, did I ever have a trip with that stuff!

5. n. an annoying person or thing. She is such a trip.

6. in. to leave. Time to trip. See ya.

trip the light fantastic

To dance.

See also: fantastic, light, trip

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

trip the light fantastic

Dance. The phrase comes from John Milton's poem “L'Allegro”: “Come and trip it as ye go / On the light fantastic toe.” “Trip” did not mean to stub your toe and fall. On the contrary it meant “to move lightly and nimbly.”

See also: fantastic, light, trip

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