Also 6–7 trym, trimme, 7–8 trimm. [f. TRIM v.]
I. Nautical senses.
1. The state of being trimmed or prepared for sailing; esp. the condition of being ‘fully rigged and ready to sail’ (Onions, Shaks. Gloss.).
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., IV. i. 90. The ship is in her trim, the merrie winde Blowes faire from land.
c. 1595. Capt. Wyatt, R. Dudley’s Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 59. Our good shipp beinge putt in her best trym … Captaine Jobson caused the collers … to be advanced in the topps, poope and shrowdes of our shipp.
1628. Digby, Voy. Medit. (Camden), 36. I found my shippe to be in perfect good trimme.
1874. Burnand, My Time, xxix. 279. Their yacht … was kept in trim all the year round.
1878. Besant & Rice, Celia’s Arb., xii. Don’t let the boy think the vessel has got out of trim after all these years.
2. a. The most advantageous set of a ship in the water on her fore and aft line; also with qualification, as good, better, best, bad trim. b. Adjustment of the sails with reference to the direction of the wind and the ship’s course. c. The condition of being properly balanced. d. The difference between the draught forward and the draught aft (cf. TRIM v. 13).
1614. Gorges, Lucan, III. 111. Of any ship to find the trimme, In wrought seas how she best might swimme.
1674. Petty, Disc. Dupl. Proportion, 28. Different Velocities, arising from the different Trim of the same Ship,… the best Trim being that which makes least resistance.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Trimm of a Ship, is her best Posture, Proportion of Ballast, and hanging of her Masts, &c. for Sailing:… to find the best way of making any Ship to Sail swiftly, is called finding her Trim.
1748. Anson’s Voy., Introd. 10. The discovery of her most eligible position in the water (usually stiled her Trim).
1764. Reid, Inquiry, vi. § 22. A ship requires a different trim for every variation of the direction and strength of the wind.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Out of Trim, the state of a ship when she is not properly balanced for the purposes of navigation.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 170. They must … always be in sailing trim.
1839. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 323/1. To preserve the trim of the ship, by keeping the centre of gravity in its proper position.
a. 1845. Hood, Pain in Pleas.-Boat, 5. Bill, shift them bags of ballast aft—she’s rather out of trim!
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Trim, the set of a ship on the water, whether by the head or the stern, or on an even keel. It is by the disposition of the ballast, cargo, masts, and other weight which she carries, that a vessel is best adapted for navigation…. Trim of the hold, the arrangement of the cargo, &c., by which a vessel carries sail well [etc.].
e. In vague non-technical use, The general appearance or look of a ship: cf. 3.
1757. Gray, Bard, 73. In gallant trim the gilded Vessel goes.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, VI. ii. I cannot exactly make out its trim; it scarcely seems a merchant vessel.
II. General senses.
3. Adornment, array; equipment, outfit; dress: usually in reference to style or appearance; hence sometimes nearly = guise, aspect.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. i. 113. They come like Sacrifices in their trimme.
1623. Massinger, Bondman, I. i. I’d court Bellona in her horrid trim As if she were a mistress.
a. 1646. Visct. Falkland, Marr. Night, I. (1664), B ij b. A brave and Courtly Girle: has trim and dazle enough of white and red, to attract the eye.
1798. Wordsw., Idiot Boy, xviii. She sees him in his travelling trim.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxii. Bucklaw, in bridegroom trim.
1838–9. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1868), 58. The Sunday trim of the poor people.
fig. 1637. Heylin, Antid. Lincoln., Pref. A j b. One that conjectured of the house by the trimme or dresse, would thinke it very richly furnished.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. (Grosart), I. 38. The Earth doth now begin To flourish, in her Sweet and glorious Trimme.
1650. T. Vaughan, Anthroposophia, 65. I would not have Thee look here for the Paint, and Trim of Retorick.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 357. Nature in her cultivated trim Dressed to his taste, inviting him abroad.
† b. The trim: the prevailing mode; the fashion. Obs. rare.
1603. Daniel, Def. Ryme, F v. Being now the trym, and fashion of the times, to sute a man otherwise cannot but giue a touch of singularity.
1628. Ford, Lover’s Mel., I. iii. Not like a lady of the trim. Ibid. (1638), Fancies, IV. i. Is’t possible? why, you are turned a mistress, A mistress of the trim.
† c. with a and pl. A piece of personal adornment, an ornament; a style of dress or array; also fig. Obs.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1676), 228. For her Purple Gowns, or for other such pretty fine trims of Gold, as women use to wear.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler (1843), 25. If I see a trimme, far trimmer than she that weares it.
1675. Penn, Eng. Pres. Interest, i. Civil Affairs … may be peaceably transacted under the different Liveries, or Trims of Religion.
d. The act of trimming or condition of being trimmed (cf. TRIM v. 9).
1608. Rowlands, Humors Looking Glasse, 4. Many antique faces passe, From Barbers chaire vnto his glasse, There to beholde their kinde of trim.
Mod. colloq. The barber will give you a trim.
† e. = TRIMMING vbl. sb. 2 a. Obs.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 143. The gold … that was laid … upon the trim of Vests, was … in as perfect lustre as if it had been but newly done.
f. The dressings of a house; ‘the visible woodwork, as the base-boards, door and window-casings, etc.’ (Cent. Dict.). U.S.
1884. N. York Even. Post, 14 April (Cent. Dict.), Advt. This Building [Gorham, Bway. & 19th St.] is ACTUALLY FIRE-PROOF,… no wood having been used in construction except for floors, doors, and trim.
1885. Howells, Silas Lapham (1891), II. 54. The trim of the doors and windows was in light green and the panels in salmon.
4. Condition, state, or order, esp. for work or action of any kind: usually qualified by an adj. (Now the chief general sense.)
1628. Feltham, Resolves, II. [I.] xlv. 132. If we looke vpon him, in another trimme of the minde: how smooth hee is.
1666. G. Alsop, Maryland, Ded. I am so my self, and the world, as far as I can perceive, is not much out of the same trim.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas, XI. xiv. They had almost dined, and consequently were in a trim for disputing.
1782. Cowper, Gilpin, 162. The Calender, amazed to see His neighbour in such trim.
1803. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), I. 476. I am in good marching trim.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. i. 9. I can hardly keep my charts … in any thing like decent trim.
1882. Roxburgh, in Jean L. Watson, R. S. Candlish, ii. 25. Matters were at length in trim for my settlement.
1891. Field, 7 March, 344/2. With the excellent present trim of the water, and fish feeding, anglers should take advantage of the few days left.
b. Hence in († the) trim, into (to) trim, in or into proper condition or order.
1827. Scott, Napoleon, lxv. Soldiers whose hearts were in the trim. Ibid. (1828), F. M. Perth, iii. One of your hermits that … brings himself to trim by fasting and penance.
1879. Ruskin, Hortus Inclusus, lvi. (1887), 68. [My] eyes, head, feet, and fingers, all fairly in trim.
1886. Huxley, in Life & Lett. (1900), II. viii. 129. I will give him a dose of that remedy when once I get into trim.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 179. The barque was empty and the whaling gear in trim.
5. (orig. fig. from 2.) The nature, character, or manner of a person or thing; his or its ‘way.’
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 31. Those that knew his Trim, us’d to load him well with Ale and Salmon.
1771. T. Hull, Sir W. Harrington (1797), III. 53. Our brother … never is ten minutes in the company of a woman without finding what he calls the trim of her.
1787. Beckford, Italy (1834), II. 22. That I allow; but such, you know, is my trim and I cannot help it.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxvii[i]. His wife knows his trim, and I have not the least doubt that the matter is quite certain.
1824. R. Stuart, Hist. Steam Engine, 206. The water which is heated under a great pressure … is forced into [that] in the common boiler, and heats it to any degree suited to the nature or trim of the engine.
