Forms: (3 bitrufle(n), 4 treoflen, trufly, trofel, -le, trofulle, 5 trufylle, tryfulle, trefele, troufle, tryffle, trifel, -ful, 5–6 tryfle, 6 tryffel, tryfell, -fyll, -ful, trifyll, (7 triffle), 6– trifle. [ME. a. OF. truffle-r, truiffle-r, parallel form of truffer, trufer, trupher (13th c. in Godef.) to make sport of, deceive, jeer or laugh at, = It. truffare ‘to cozen, to cheate, to coniecatch’ (Florio): cf. truffe, trufle, truffle mockery, cheating: see TRIFLE sb.]
† 1. trans. To cheat, delude, befool; to mock. Trifle out, to dismiss with mockery. Obs. rare.
[Cf. a. 1225. Bitrufle: see TRIFLE sb. 1 α.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 412/323. Wel bi-trufleth be þat folk.]
a. 1450. Myrc, Festial, 194. Symon Magvs … trifuld þe pepull to holde hym an holy man.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cc. 237. Than the comons of the cite beganne to saye, howe dothe our bysshop tryfle and mocke vs.
1533. Tindale, Supper Lord, E ij b. To tryful out ye trouth wyth tauntes and mockes, as More doth.
† 2. intr. To say what is untrue, to jest in order to cheat, mock, amuse, or make sport. Obs.
c. 1305. St. Dunstan, 74, in E. E. P. (1862), 36. Treoflinge heo smot her and þer.
1340. Ayenb., 214. Naȝt uor to iangli, uor to lheȝȝe, ne uorto trufly.
c. 1430. Chev. Assigne, 48. He was trewe of his feyth & loth for to tryfulle.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 502/2. Tryflon, or iapyn (K. trifelyn,… P. tryfflyn), trufo, ludifico.
1483. Cath. Angl., 395/1. To Trufylle, nugari,… neniari, trufare.
1538. Elyot, Ineptio..., to tryfle.
1552. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., I. (1895), 98. The vyle bondemen skoffynge and tryfelynge amonge them selfes.
1573–8. Baret, Alv., T 366. To trifle, to do, or speake a thing vnmeete for the purpose, inepto.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. i. 112. I feare he did but trifle, And meant to wracke thee.
b. Trifle with: To treat with a lack of seriousness or respect; to ‘play’ or dally with.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccix. 712. Sirs, methynke the frenchmen do but tryfell with me, and with the countre of Flaunders.
1530. Palsgr., 562/1. I gest, I bourde or tryfyll with one, je bourde.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 34. Why I do trifle thus with his dispaire, Is done to cure it.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, I. III. 133. At last the Duke nettled to see himself so pursu’d, and trifled withal by his Enerny, commanded [etc.].
1769. Junius Lett., xxxv. (1820), 168. This is not a time to trifle with your fortune.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xii. I let him see that I was not to be trifled with.
1852. Mrs. Smythies, Bride Elect, xliii. He shall not trifle with your affections.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xii. 253. Trifling with what ought to be solemn engagements.
† c. So trifle it. Obs.
1563. Foxe, A. & M., 1190/1. Bradford desired my lord Chauncelor not to trifle it, saying that he wondred his honoure woulde make solemne oths (made to God) trifles in that sorte.
1657. J. Sergeant, Schism Dispach’t, 577. You have broke the Unity of the former church (and not of the court onely, as you trifle it) which you were in.
3. intr. To toy, play (with a material object); to handle or finger a thing idly; to fiddle, fidget with.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 287. Put not youre hands in youre hosen … nor pikynge, nor trifelynge ne shrukkynge.
1530. Palsgr., 549/1. I fydell, I tryfle with my handes, je fretille mes mayns.
1618. M. Baret, Horsemanship, I. 75. If when he standeth … he coueteth to goe backe, or trifle with his body or feete, then [etc.].
1715. Pope, 2nd Ep. Miss Blount, 17. O’er cold coffee trifle with the spoon.
1842. Tennyson, Will Waterproof, xxix. Silent gentlemen, That trifle with the cruet.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. ii. He trifles quite ferociously with his dessert-knife.
b. trans. To play with. rare.
1817. Keats, Endym., IV. 210. Young Bacchus stood, Trifling his ivy-dart.
4. intr. To dally, loiter; to spend time idly or frivolously; to waste time.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2932. I red thowe trette of a trewe, and trofle no lengere.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 114 b. He trifleth and dalieth thus with doubtfull wordes.
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 133. Let us now trifle no longer, but view the City.
16[?]. Evelyn, Diary, 21 Oct. an. 1632. Whiles I was now trifling at home I saw London.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 153, ¶ 5. While I was thus trifling in uncertainty.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 9. They must have ‘trifled’ a great deal, or they would have accomplished more than they had.
† 5. trans. To pass or spend (time) frivolously or idly; to waste (time). Obs. exc. as in b.
1586. J. Hooker, Hist. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 157/2. He still lingered and trifled the time and came not.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 298. We trifle time, I pray thee pursue sentence.
1611. Heywood, Gold. Age, IV. i. Wks. 1874, III. 66. Wee haue trified the night till bed-time.
1697. Congreve, Mourn. Bride, II. vii. I haue not leisure to reflect, or know, Or trifle time in thinking.
1742. R. Blair, Grave, 572. Fain would he trifle time with idle talk.
b. esp. with away, † off, to fritter away idly. † With forth, out, to defer or put off idly.
1532. Hervet, Xenophon’s Househ., 59 b. His worke men and laborers … trifyll away the day. Ibid. His folke … trifle forth the time.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 305. He a long while trifled out the time.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iii. 179. Come Lords, we trifle time away.
1657. J. Watts, Dipper Sprinkled, 86. Trifle away paper with needless repetitions.
1774. Trinket, 172. Une affaire de cœur, is at best a silly business, yet mighty necessary to trifle off that trifle, life.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., vi[i]. Why do you trifle away time in making a gallows?—that dyester’s pole is good enough for the homicide.
† 6. To make a trifle of; to render trivial or insignificant. Obs. rare–1.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. iv. 4. This sore Night Hath trifled former knowings.
7. intr. To act (or speak) in an idle or frivolous way, esp. in serious circumstances.
1736. Butler, Anal., II. v. Wks. 1874, I. 207. A person rashly trifling upon a precipice.
1779. Mirror, No. 60. One of the most important lessons to be learned in life, is that of being able to trifle upon occasion.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xviii. I cannot help trifling, Matilda, though my heart is sad enough.
1867. Aug. J. E. Wilson, Vashti, xxviii. ‘Oh, Salome! you have trifled.’ ‘No, sir. Take that back. I never stoop to trifling; and the curse of my life has been my almost fatal earnestness of purpose.’
8. trans. To utter or pass in a trifling manner.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Old Actors. She used him for her sport … to trifle a leisure sentence or two with.
1825. C. M. Westmacott, Eng. Spy, I. 226. Trifles a little badinage.
