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trice

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trice¹

  • /tɹaɪs/

Rhymes with -aɪs

Where it comes from

From Middle English trīcen, trice, trise (“to pull or push; to snatch away; to steal”), from Middle Dutch trīsen (“to hoist”) (modern Dutch trijsen) or Middle Low German trissen (“to trice the spritsail”); further etymology uncertain. The word is cognate with Danish trisse, tridse (“to haul with a pulley”), Low German trissen, tryssen, drisen, drysen (“to wind up, trice”), German trissen, triezen (“to annoy or torment”).

verb trices · tricing · triced · trise

  1. obsolete, transitive To pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply. The tent is made of light, close, unbleached duck, […] A window, six inches square, is fitted at the upper end with a flap to trice up or haul down.
  2. transitive To drag or haul, especially with a rope; specifically (nautical) to haul or hoist and tie up by means of a rope. ... the fold of his double chin hung like a bag triced up close under the hinge of his jaw.

trice²

  • /tɹaɪs/

Rhymes with -aɪs

Where it comes from

From Middle English trīce, trise, in the phrase at a trīce (“with a single, quick motion; at once”, literally “with a pull or jerk”), later also in the phrases in a trice, on a trice, and with a trice. The word is ultimately from Middle English trīcen: see etymology 1 above.

noun trices

  1. Now only in the phrase in a trice: a very short time; the blink of an eye, an instant, a moment. Miſtruſtfully he truſteth, and he dreadingly did dare, / And fortie paſſions in a trice in him conſort and ſquare.

    Similar: instant, jiffy, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash, glimpse, half a mo, jiff, jot

trice³

  • /tɹaɪs/

Rhymes with -aɪs

Where it comes from

From Middle English trīce, tryys, tryyst, from Middle Dutch trīse, trijs (modern Dutch trijs (“hoisting-block, pulley, windlass”)) or Middle Low German trīsse, trītse (“hoisting-rope, tackle”); probably related to the verb trice (see etymology 1 above), and perhaps to Old English tryndel (“roller, wheel”) (see further at trend, trindle). The English word is cognate with Danish tridse, trisse (“pulley”), Low German trissel (“dizziness; whirling”), German trieze (“crane; pulley”), Norwegian triss (“pulley”), Swedish trissa (“pulley, truckle”).

noun trices

  1. obsolete, rare A pulley, a windlass (“form of winch for lifting heavy weights, comprising a cable or rope wound around a cylinder”).

Trice⁴

proper noun Trices

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

noun very short time

中文瞬间 shùnjiān
DeutschAugenblick
Românămoment, clipită
Русскиймиг mig

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MLA

"trice." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/trice. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

trice. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/trice

Chicago

"trice." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/trice.

BibTeX
@misc{trice_2026,
  title = {trice},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/trice},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}