Etymology From Middle English trifle, trifel, triful, trefle, truyfle, trufful, from Old French trufle (“mockery”), a byform of trufe, truffe (“deception”), of uncertain origin.
1
Cooking, Food, Lifestyle An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
It is interesting to watch the surface joviality on screen while racism is layered between courses like soggy trifles.2020 May 27, Kieran Yates, “Fifteen years of TV dinners: why Come Dine With Me has endured”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2
Figuratively Anything that is of little importance or worth.
Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmation strong / As proofs of holy writ.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
Olde Chaucer doth of Topas tell, / Mad Rablais of Pantagruell, / A latter third of Dowsabell, / With such poore trifles playing:1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC:
2 more examples
[W]hen they had the Character and Honour of a VVoman at their Mercy, often times made it their Jest, and at least look’d upon it as a Trifle, and counted the Ruin of thoſe, they had had their VVill of, as a thing of no value.1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 34:
‘And all about a rattle!’ said Alice, still hoping to make them a little ashamed of fighting for such a trifle.1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:
A trifle, some eight-penny matter.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
He told her of horses which he had bought for a trifle and sold for incredible sums […]1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
2 more examples
What’s eighty dollars? A trifle. An insignificant sum.1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter XXX, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 311:
“It was bad of me then not to send the fifteen hundred dollars. I assumed it would be a trifle.” / “Well, until a few months ago it was a trifle.”1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 462:
This Line leaves out […] Poplar and Black-vvall, vvhich are indeed contiguous, a Trifle of Ground excepted, and very populous.1742, [Daniel Defoe], “Letter II. Containing A Description of the City of London.”, in A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] J[ohn] Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 90:
There was a good deal of rustling and whispering behind the curtain, a trifle of lamp smoke, and an occasional giggle from Amy […]1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 2, in Little Women: […], 1st part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, →OCLC:
1 more example
“Take just a trifle of French mustard […]”1932, Graham Greene, Stamboul Strain, London: Heinemann, Part 4, p. 180:
5
A particular kind of pewter.
6
Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.
Etymology From Middle English trifle, trifel, triful, trefle, truyfle, trufful, from Old French trufle (“mockery”), a byform of trufe, truffe (“deception”), of uncertain origin.
1
To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.
You must not trifle with her affections.
[…] Do not believe / That, from the sense of all civility, / I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
2 more examples
“Miss Bennet,” replied her ladyship, in an angry tone, “you ought to know, that I am not to be trifled with […]”1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 56, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
But a Judge may not trifle with the Law because the society is defective.1948, Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, Penguin, published 1958, Book 2, Chapter 11, p. 171:
2
To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.
[…] playing and trifling are completely banished out of my mind […]1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter 27, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
But he was terribly roused too and bound to go on; he wasn’t just trifling but intended something.1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 405:
3
To inconsequentially toy with something.
Mr. Micawber, leaning back in his chair, trifled with his eye-glass and cast his eyes up at the ceiling […]1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 28, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
She sat in a café, trifling with her coffee spoon.1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, New York: Fawcett, published 1967, Part 1, Chapter 6, p. 151:
4
To squander or waste.
We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
For an honest and sober man will rather make that woman his wife, whom he seeth employed continually about her business, than one who makes it her business to trifle away her own and others time.1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 62:
2 more examples
As it was, he did nothing with much zeal, but sport; and his time was otherwise trifled away, without benefit from books or anything else.1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
You who have known neither sorrow nor pleasure; who have trifled your life away!1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1985, page 189:
[…] but this sore night / Hath trifled former knowings.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]: