[f. TRUMP sb.2
Appears first in figurative senses (2–3); in some early quots. it may have been confused with TRUMP v.2; but the sense-development is not quite clear.]
I. 1. Cards. a. trans. To put a trump upon; to take with a trump.
1598. Florio, Trionfare,… to trump at cards.
1680. Cotton, Gamester, xi. 87. A Card that is trumped by the follower, if the next player hath none of the former suit he must trump it again.
1778. C. Jones, Hoyle’s Games Impr., 58. If your Partner forces you to trump a Card early in the Deal.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., vi. Miller ought to have trumped the diamond.
1862. ‘Cavendish,’ Whist (1879), 70. You may sometimes discontinue a suit if you suspect it will be trumped.
b. absol. or intr. To play a trump; to take a trick with a trump. Trump out, to play out one’s trumps.
1680. Cotton, Gamester, x. 82. You ought to have a special eye to what Cards are play’d out, that you may know … how to trump securely.
1746. Hoyle, Whist (ed. 6), 15. Do not trump out. Ibid., 79. If your Partner calls…, you are to trump to him.
1862. ‘Cavendish,’ Whist (1879), 108. It is an advantage to trump when you are weak.
2. fig. or in fig. context: in quot. 1586, ? to ‘put to one’s trumps,’ to nonplus; now usually, to beat, to ‘cap.’
1586. Ferne, Blaz. Gentrie, 190. If you be not trumped, in the blazonne of this coate, I care not to what I put you.
a. 1612. Harington, Epigr., IV. xii. An odious play, and yet in Court oft seen, A sawcy Knave, to trump both King and Queene.
1681. Dryden, Princess of Cleves, Prol. 35. But since they’re at renouncing, ’tis our parts, To trump their diamonds, as they trump our hearts.
1860. Thackeray, Lovel, iii. I trumped her old-world stories … with the latest … intelligence.
1880. S. Walpole, Hist. Eng., III. 296. The Liberals set themselves to trump his [Peel’s] best cards.
II. † 3. Trump in (one’s) way (cf. TRUMP sb.2 2 b): a. trans. To cast in one’s way as a hindrance or obstruction; in quot. 1553, to allege against one (cf. 5 b). Obs.
1553. Bale, Gardiner’s De vera Obed., H j b. And that, that is fondly layed to the husbandes charge after he is divorced, because he perfourmed not his promyse, that he ought not to haue made: shall that … be … earnestly tromped in my waye?
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. vi. 34. To ouercome all that euer the deuill trumpeth in our way.
1607. Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr., I. iv. 178. Sathan is suffered to trompe hinderances in their way.
† b. intr. To get in one’s way; to obstruct or impede one. Obs.
1570. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), 1146/2. But here now commeth Syr Thomas More trumpyng in our way.
1650. Weldon, Crt. Jas. I., 53. For all their setting their Cards … to their owne advantages…, there was one Knave in the Packe would cousen their designes, and Trump in their way.
† 4. To impose or thrust (something) upon a person. Obs.
1694. Leslie, Short Meth. w. Deists (1699), 3. Authors have been Trump’d upon us, Interpolated and Corrupted.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Dial. Dead, Reas. Oaths, Wks. 1711, IV. 96. There are abundance of ill-affected Men … that have trumped that unlucky Card upon the Dr.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1727), VI. 104. A sort of odd ill-natur’d Men, whom neither Hopes nor Fears … can prevail upon to have any … forlorn … Kinswomen of any Lord or Grandee … trump’d upon them.
† b. intr. ? To impose upon. Obs. rare.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1727), IV. 384. Fit for nothing but to be trumped and trampled upon, to be led by the Nose.
5. Trump up (trans.). † a. ? To put (one) off with. Obs. rare–1.
1634. Massinger, Very Woman, II. iii. Hang honesty! Trump me not up with ‘honesty’!
† b. To bring up, bring forward, allege. Obs.
1697. T. Smith, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 252. When the Benedictine Monks were so busy to trump up old charters of exemption and priveleges.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Laconics, Wks. 1711, IV. 14. The Cavaliers … us’d to trump up the 12th of the Romans upon the Parliament; the Parliament trump’d it upon the Army.
1710. Palmer, Proverbs, 333. Necessity is trump’d up for a plea.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 507, ¶ 2. To husband a lie, and trump it up in some extraordinary emergency.
1772. Town & Country Mag., 128. B[olland] trumped up an imaginary debt against him.
c. To get up or devise in an unscrupulous way; to forge, fabricate, invent.
1695. W. W., Colbatch’s New Lt. Chirurg. Put out, 64. His Pouder being … disgraced, he was obliged to trump up another Medicine to supply its Defect.
1726. C. D’Anvers, Craftsman, No. 3 (1727), 22. They … forewarn us to beware of impostures trumpt up in imitation of their approved remedies.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 328. Their very existence is mere hypothesis, trumped up to serve a turn.
1794. Godwin, Cal. Williams, 277. If … those servants could trump up such accusations.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, IV. vii. ¶ 16. You have trumped up a cock-and-bull story.
1885. Howells, Silas Lapham, viii. She had not … courage to confess … why she had come, but trumped up an excuse.
Hence Trumped ppl. a. (only in trumped-up, in sense 5 c).
1800. Coleridge, Wallenst., II. ii. A trumped up Spanish story.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 302. Three hundred … youths were thrown into prison … on a trumped-up charge.
