Forms: 2–7 trige, 6 (Sc.) tryg, 7 trigge, 5– trig. [a. ON. tryggr faithful, trusty, trustworthy, secure (Norw., Sw. trygg, Da. tryg secure, safe, sure); = Gothic triggws true, faithful: see TRUE. Orig. northern Eng. and Sc.; in general literary use in 19th c.]
(The sense development between 1200 and 1500 is not very clear, and the order of senses given is mainly chronological; perhaps sense 4 ought to stand before 3. Cf. the note to TRIM a., which is to a great extent applicable also to TRIG.)
I. 1. True, faithful; trustworthy, trusty. Now only north. dial.
c. 1200. Ormin, 6177. Þin laferrd birrþ þe buhsumm beon & hold & trigg & trowwe.
1818. T. Thompson, Canny Newcassel, in Midford, etc., Coll. Songs (1819), 8. For Geordy aw’d dee,—for my loyalty’s trig.
1829. Brockett, N. C. Words, Trig, true, faithful.
1893–4. Northumb. Gloss., Trig, neat, spruce, true, reliable.
II. † 2. Active, nimble, brisk, sprightly, alert. Sc.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., VII. (Lion & Mouse), i. Ane trip of myis … Richt tait and trig, all dansand in ane gyis.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 134. Litill lammis Full tait and trig socht bletand to thar dammis.
1724. Ramsay, Eagle & Robin, 23. A tunefull Robin trig and ȝung.
3. Trim or tight in person, shape, or appearance; of a place, Neat, tidy, in good order. Chiefly Sc. and dial.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. x. 89. The beste sal be full tydy, tryg, and wycht.
1697. R. Peirce, Bath Mem., I. iv. 71. Her … Foot and Leg [were] as shapely, strong, and trigge. Ibid., vi. 107. I, by chance, met her trigg and lusty, in the Market-Street.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxiv. And it’s like some o’ them will be sent back to fling the earth into the hole, and mak a’ things trig again.
1821. Galt, Ayrsh. Legatees, x. The wonted ornaments of every trig change-house kitchen.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxviii. A damsel so trig and neat that some said she was too handsome for the service of a bachelor divine.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1843), 126. My Sandie was the triggest lad That ever made a lassie glad.
1889. Scribner’s Mag., Aug., 168/1. Bait is a dirty subsuitute for the trig fly.
b. Trim or neat in dress; smartly dressed; spruce, smart, well-dressed.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. Few gang trigger to the kirk or fair.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., etc., II. 96. Trig as new pins, and tight’s the day was long.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Trig, neat, trim; or rather tricked out, or what is called fine.
1873. Howells, Chance Acquaint., iv. The trig corporal, with the little visorless cap worn so jauntily.
1884. Century Mag., XXVIII. 541. The stylish gait and air of the trig little body who wore them.
1893. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Aunt Johnnie, xxix. 275. She really looked very smart and trig and jaunty.
4. In good physical condition; strong, sound, well; also, firm, steady; in quot. a. 1722, advb.
1704. Locke, Lett. to Churchill, 27 June, in Fox Bourne, Life (1876), II. 546. I hope … that I may congratulate your safe return, strong and trig as you were before.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 270. A man will keep so much the greater awe over [oxen when plowing], and will make them go trig.
1847–78. Halliwell, Trig (5) well in health, West. (6) sound and firm. Dorset.
1858. Brit. Q. Rev., LVI. 548. Those noble [Greek and Roman] youths … sitting on the bare backs of their chargers, and guiding them with their hands;… they do not sit badly considering they have not the advantages … of pig’s skin and stirrups to keep them square and trig.
1890. Amelia E. Barr, Olivia, xvii. 351. I wish I was in mid-ocean all trig and tight. Then I would enjoy such a passion of wind.
5. Prim, precise, exact; in depreciative use: Cut and dried, smug. rare.
1793. J. Pearson, Political Dict., 38. Trig and demure, the [girl] comes back.
1832. J. P. Kennedy, Swallow B., viii. A certain trig and quaint appearance given by his tight dark-colored small-clothes.
1868. Tuckerman, Collector, 74. A trig nurse, with Saxon ringlets, dragging a petulant urchin.
1872. H. W. Beecher, in Chr. World Pulpit, II. 341. Our system of trig and prig theology.
1876. Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 137.
| There comes before my path a little man, | |
| Smooth and close-shaven, very trig and smug, | |
| And well-appointed. |
6. Full, distended, stuffed to the utmost, ‘tight.’ north. dial.
1811. Willan, W. Riding Gloss. (E.D.S.), Trig,… full, distended.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Trig a., full.
1905. in Eng. Dial. Dict., from Cumbld., Yorksh., Lincolnsh. Ibid. (N. Lincoln), ‘Thoo mon’t shuv no moore i’to that bag, it’s oher trig noo.’
† B. sb.4 A trim, spruce fellow; a dandy, a coxcomb. Obs.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., IV. vii. You are a Pimpe, and a Trig, And an Amadis de Gaule, or a Don Quixote.
Hence Trigly adv., Trigness.
1728. Ramsay, Lure, 40. What fowl is that,… that stands sae trigly on your hand?
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, ii. 29. The lassies, who had been at Nanse Banks’s school, were always well spoken of … for … the trigness of their houses, when they were … married.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., ii. (1856), 18. Their spars had no man-of-war trigness.
1896. J. Tweeddale, Moff, i. 14. Fields were subdivided by trigly cut hedges.
