TRIPPING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tripping mean? 

• TRIPPING (adjective)
  The adjective TRIPPING has 2 senses:

1. characterized by a buoyant rhythm

2. moving easily and quickly; nimble

  Familiarity information: TRIPPING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRIPPING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characterized by a buoyant rhythm

Synonyms:

lilting; swinging; swingy; tripping

Context example:

a tripping singing measure

Similar:

rhythmic; rhythmical (recurring with measured regularity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Moving easily and quickly; nimble

Synonyms:

light; lightsome; tripping

Context example:

walked with a light tripping step

Similar:

light-footed ((of movement) having a light and springy step)

 Context examples 

The captain, a wise man, after many endeavours to catch me tripping in some part of my story, at last began to have a better opinion of my veracity.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Ere long, Adele's little foot was heard tripping across the hall.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

After tumor cell lysis, released viruses infect neighboring tumor cells, tripping a chain of ONYX-015-mediated tumor cell cytotoxicity.

(ONYX-015, NCI Thesaurus)

Getting rid of tripping hazards in your home and wearing nonskid shoes may also help.

(Falls, NIH: National Institute on Aging)

A little gray-coated sand bird came tripping over the beach 'peeping' softly to itself, as if enjoying the sun and sea.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The steamers Emma and Scarborough made trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of "tripping" both to and from Whitby.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

After tripping and stumbling over these lumps of decay, I came suddenly against something hard, and I found that an upright post was firmly fixed in the center of the hollow.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He started to leave the room, tripping over a loose seam in the slatternly carpet.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Gradually the night fell blacker; it was all I could do to guide myself even roughly towards my destination; the double hill behind me and the Spy-glass on my right hand loomed faint and fainter; the stars were few and pale; and in the low ground where I wandered I kept tripping among bushes and rolling into sandy pits.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

To Milsom Street she was directed, and having made herself perfect in the number, hastened away with eager steps and a beating heart to pay her visit, explain her conduct, and be forgiven; tripping lightly through the church-yard, and resolutely turning away her eyes, that she might not be obliged to see her beloved Isabella and her dear family, who, she had reason to believe, were in a shop hard by.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)