trim (trim)

[Early mod. E. also trim me, trym, trymme; an altered form, after the verb, of * trum, It taketh no rote in a briery place, ne in marice, nether in the sande that fleeteth awa ye, but it requireth a pure, a trymme, and a substaunciall grounde. J. Udall , On Jas. i. 2. In good order or condition; properly disposed, equipped, or or qualified; qu good; excellent; fine: often used ironically. Thirteene trim barkes through lie furnished and appointed with good mariners and men of warre. Holinshed, Chron., Edw. III., an. 1372. I, be Gis, twold be trim wether, And if it were not for this mist. Add is on, Spectator, No. 383. Trim the Boat and sit quiet, stern Charon reply'd. Prior, Bibo and Charon. The Harte, vice admiralle, with the Paunce and Sir Andrewe Dudley, being but single manned, had a greate conflicte with three Scott is he shippes, beeyng double manned and trimmed with ord in a unce. Fabyan , Chron., an. 1546. Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love. Shak ., 3 Hen VI., ii. 1. 24. See, the jolly clerk Appears, trimm'd like a ruffian. Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 4. 4. Specifically, to embellish with ornaments; decorate, as with ribbons, fringe, etc. Trimer a He commends Atticus for his Trimming , and Tully for his Cowardise, and speaks meanly of the Bravery of Cato. Jeremy Collier , Short View (ed. 1698), p. 195. He trimmed , as he said, as the temperate zone trims between intolerable heat and intolerable cold-as a good government trims between despotism and anarchy - as a pure church trims between the errors of the Papists and those of the Anabaptists. Macaulay , Sir W. Temple. To trim sharp ( naut.), to haul up to the wind, and brace the yards sharp. The next Morning we again trimm'd sharp , and made the best of our way to the Lobos de la Mar. Dampier , Voyages, I. 145. trim (trim), n. [ IMG:content-0884.png:[blocks in formation] Ere dusk fires were lit up stairs and below, the kitchen was in perfect trim ; Hannah and I were dre ed, and all was in readine . Charlotte Brontë , Jane Eyre, xxxiv. 2. Naut . , the state of a ship, or of her cargo, ballast, spars, etc., with reference to her fitne for sailing. A nobler ship did never swim, And you shall see her in full trim : I'll set, my friends, to do you honor, Set every inch of sail upon her. Words worth, The Wagoner, ii. We... prepared to get everything in trim for a long stay. R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 301. When they had trimmed, but not yet with the capstan, Arents called to the captain, who returned an answer implying that the ship had come up again, and that the trim as it was would serve. W. C. Ru ell, Death Ship, xxiii. 3. Mode of appearance or equipment; guise; garb; especially, the becoming or prescribed mode of dre , ornament, etc.; the fashion; full dre ; of a ship, full sail. I'd court Bell on a in her horrid trim , As if she were a mistre . Mas singer, Bondman, i. 1. Uncomb'd his locks, and squalid his attire, Unlike the trim of love and gay desire. Dryden, Pal. and Arc., i. 540. "First we must put you in trim." "In trim !" said Morton, "what do you mean?" "Why, we must put on these rough bracelets [handcuffs]." Scott , Old Mortality, xii. 41. Dre ; trapping; ornament. Death himself in all his horrid trims. Fletcher, Bonduc a, iv. 3. Virtue, though in rags, may challenge more Than vice set off with all the trim of greatne .