sb. (a.) Obs. exc. dial. Also 9 dial. trin tran. [In I. app. f. TRIM a., with varied reduplication; in II. and III., app. whimsical applications of I.; but perh. distinct words.]
I. (Cf. flim-flam, jim-jam, whim-wham.)
† 1. app. A personal ornament of little value; a pretty toy or trifle; a gew-gaw. Obs.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 130. A trym tram for an horse myll it were a nyse thyng. Ibid. (a. 1529), El. Rummyng, 76. After the Sarasyns gyse, With a whym wham, Knyt with a trym tram, Vpon her brayne pan.
1548. Patten, Exped. Scotl., Pref. civ. From ye fondnes of his trimtrams and gugaws.
1560. Becon, Jewel of Joy, Wks. II. 19 b. A frenche hode wyth an edge of golde, besydes pearles and precious stons and suche other trime trames.
1667. F. Vernon, Oxonium, 24. [Undergraduates] making Trimtrams with Rushes and flowers.
† 2. An absurd or silly device or practice; an absurdity; a piece of nonsense. Obs.
1533. More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., Wks. 1114/2. I haue as you se so wel auoyded his ginnes and his grinnes & all his trimtrams.
c. 1550. R. Wever, Lusty Juventus, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 66. Holy kneeling, holy censings, And a hundred trim-trams mo.
1568. W. Fulwood, Enimie Idlenesse, I. B vij. Whether that sorcerers do vse to ryde vpon a Byzom, and practise such other like trim trams.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 46. But loa, to what purpose do I chat such ianglerye trim trams?
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 16. 2/2. I have some Thoughts with an old Trim Tram To venture on the Marriage Whim Wham.
3. In rhyming jingles; sometimes referring to similarity or equal treatment of two of different position. Now dial. (Cf. giff-gaff.)
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, D iij b. Trim tram, neither good for God nor man.
a. 1627. Middleton & Rowley, Span. Gipsy, IV. iii. Trim, tram, hang master, hang man!
1681. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 19 (1713), I. 131. Well, Trim tram, like Master like Man.
1760–2. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, xiii. They thought you as great a nincompoop as your squire—trim tram, like master, like man.
1877. T. Gibson, Leg., etc. Westmoreld., 50. Trin tran, sike like master sike like man, A lazy life brings scant or scan.
† 4. attrib. or as adj.
1615. Sir E. Hoby, Curry-combe, v. 223. Wee dare not say the Master and man might bee trim-tram and confederate.
1632. Brome, North. Lasse, I. v. What a Trim-tram trick is this? the Master and the man both brain-cras’d.
1762. Bridges, Burlesque Homer (1772), 411 (Farmer). He’s telling some long trim-tram story.
II. † 5. A shrimp-net having a triangular wooden frame resting on the ground in front of the beam (Funk’s Stand. Dict.). attrib. Trim-tram man, one who uses this net in shrimping. Obs.
1590. Cal. St. Papers, Dom., 692. Regulations for hooks … whitebait, shrimp leaps and trim trams.
1746. R. Griffiths, Ess. Conserv. Thames, Index 277. Draggermen (or Trim-trammen).
III. 6. A lich-gate; also a gate that opens in a V-shaped enclosure, a kissing-gate. dial.
1842. Church Builder, April, 45, note. In … parts of Devonshire and Cornwall Lichgates are called Trim-trams.
1893. Wilts. Gloss., Trim-tram, a gate which swings in a V-shaped enclosure of post and rail, so as to prevent cattle from passing through.
