▪ I. † trice, n.1 Obs. rare.
Also 5 tryys, -st, -ste.
[a. MDu. trîse, trijs, Du. trijs windlass, pulley, hoisting-block = MLG. trîsse, trîtse tackle, hoisting-rope (whence also Da. tridse, trisse, Sw. trissa sheave, pulley, Ger. trieze crane, pulley). Cf. trice v.]
A pulley or windlass.
| 1357–8 Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907) II. 178 In j trice empt. de Domino Priore 6s 8{supd}. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 503/1 Tryyste, wyndas [v.rr. tryys, tryyst], machina, carchesia. 1462–3 Norwich Sacr. Roll (MS.), Pro le trice ad trahendum plumbum, xx d. In fune et hawuseris pro le trice, iij s. ix d. |
▪ II. trice, n.2
(traɪs)
Forms: 5–6 tryse, 6 tryce, 6–7 trise, 6– trice.
[Found first in phrase at a trice, app. originally ‘at one pull or tug, at one effort’, trice being app. verbal n. from trice v.; soon passing into the sense ‘at once, immediately, in a moment, instantly’, whence in later use the simple n. comes to be equal to ‘instant, moment’. Cf. the sense-development of Fr. † à un coup, à coup, † tout à un coup, tout d'un coup, orig. ‘at a stroke’, hence ‘at once, immediately, instantly’.
The later phrase in a trice recalls the Sp. en un tris instantly, orig. ‘in a crack’ (crack n. 2), from tris the noise made by cracking or breaking of glass; but the Eng. phrase ‘at a trice’ appears too early for Spanish influence. Rather are the English, French, and Spanish phrases parallels expressing suddenness of action.]
1. † a. at a trice, lit. at a single pluck or pull; hence, in an instant; instantly, forthwith; without delay. Obs.
| c 1440 Ipomydon 392 The howndis..Pluckid downe dere all at a tryse. a 1530 Heywood Love (1534) B iv, At dore were this trull was, I was at a tryce. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus N j b, Open the dores at ones, or at a tryce. 1603 Harsnet Pop. Impost. 59 They made sure to have a Devil readie at a trice. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 49 True it is, He had gotten the Queens eare at a trice. |
† b. with a trice in same sense. Obs.
| 1515 Barclay Egloges iii. (1570) B vj/2 Sometime thy bed⁓felowe is colder then is yse, To him then he draweth thy cloathes with a trice. a 1566 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) H j, Now Pithias kneele downe,..And with a trise thy head from thy shoulders I wyll conuay. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 129 The gaine gotten by this playe at dyce, when all is gotten with a trice ouer the thumbe, without anye traficke or loane. 1625 Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. 140 Immediatly after this confession thus by them made, they broke their necks with a trice. |
c. in a trice († on a trice) in same sense.
| 1508 Skelton P. Sparowe 1131 To tell you what conceyte I had than in a tryce, The matter were to nyse. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 266 The Aungells..maye as a man would say in a trise go downe vnto them. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 31/1 Suddenlie..in a trice it skippeth to the top of the rocke. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 238 On a trice,..Euen in a dreame, were we diuided from them. 1699 Ld. Tarbut in Pepys' Diary, etc. (1879) VI. 195 In a trice, from words they came to blows. 1782 Cowper Gilpin xxx, In a trice the turnpike-men Their gates wide open threw. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xx, I'll make you decent in a trice. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton ix, A fire is lit in a trice. |
† 2. One single attempt or act; the time taken for this; an instant or moment; a very brief period. Obs.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 899/2 Wee shall marueile howe the deuill coulde so deceiue vs at the first trice. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 5 Stand by a trice, but looke you depart not the court. 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. vii. 57 The whiles the likerous priest spits euery trice. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 219 That she..should in this trice of time Commit a thing so monstrous. a 1618 Raleigh Advice of Son (1651) 8 Nothing would be so much esteemed as a short trice of time, which now by days, and moneths, and years, is most lavishly misspent. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 186 By Time..Instant, Moment, Trice, Nick. |
▪ III. † trice, n.3 Obs.
Origin and meaning obscure.
(Variously conjectured to be a variant or erroneous form of trace n.1 in sense ‘way, course (of action)’, or of trist, tryst.)
| c 1460 G. Ashby Dicta Philos. 598 A kynge sholde not sett hym selfe in myche price, Ner his counseil haue of hym gouernance, Ne ofte use huntyng, keping wele his trice, Ner take any newe way by ignorance. [L. Decet regem non multum appreciare seipsum, nec gubernari suo consilio, nec vti frequenter venacione, nec incedere semita quam ignorat.] |
▪ IV. trice, v.
(traɪs)
Also 4–7 tryce, trise, 5–6 tryse; 8–9 erron. trace.
[a. MDu. trîsen, Du. trijsen to hoist = MLG. trîssen, trîtsen, whence also Da. trisse, Ger. triezen to hoist. Ulterior history obscure.]
† 1. trans. To pull; to pluck, snatch, draw with a sudden action; rarely, to carry off (as plunder). to trice one out of a thing, to do one out of it by sudden force. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 535 By god out of his sete I wol hym trice [v.rr. tryce, trise]. 1421–2 Hoccleve Dial. 208 in Min. Poems 117 Whan that deathe shall men from hence trice. 1446 Lydg. Nightingale Poems i. 336 Deth wyll you trise, ye wot not how ne whenne. c 1450 Lovelich Grail xiii. 20 In the tyme Of the chas, Alle Tholomes harneis Itrised was. 1500–25 in Thoms' Anecd. (Camden) 31 Sir William..makes no more adoe but trices him up, and throwes him into the Thames. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus Argt. C j, After he was left naked and triced away from al his goodes, or bereued of al that euer he had. 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 103 Vntill they might get him triced out of their way. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. §38 Thus to be triced out of that which so vehemently..he tooke care to see effected. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 106 Wee neverthelesse had tryced him out of most of her Townes and Countries. |
2. To pull or haul with a rope; spec. (Naut.) usually with up, to haul or hoist up and secure with a rope or lashing, to lash up.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 832 They trisene vpe þaire saillez, And rowes ouer the ryche see. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 401 They threw him down a Rope from the wall, which he tyed about his middle, and so was triced up by it. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 105 We cast a snare about his neck and so tryced him into the ship. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. iv. 18 Ropes fast triced together with handspikes. Ibid. v. 22 Bunt lines is..a small rope..to trice or draw vp the Bunt of the saile. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 34/2 They trise vp the anchor from the Hawse to the top of the fore-castle. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy x. 28 All the wet sails were also spread on the booms or triced up in the rigging. 1907 Macm. Mag. Feb. 316 Aft there, two of you,..and trice the ladder up. |
Hence ˈtricing vbl. n.; also attrib. as tricing-batten, tricing-line, tricing-rope: see quots.
| 1404 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 397, iiij trasys ij trysyng rapis. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. i. viii. 36 For slinging the yards, bousing or trising. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Tracing-Line [ed. 1815 Tricing-Line],..a small cord..used to hoist up any object to a higher station... Such are the tracing-lines of the awnings, and those of the yard tackles. 1804 A. B. in Naval Chron. XII. 381 [He] cut one of the tricing lines of the netting. 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xlv, My tricing-up to the truck. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 156 Tricing battens,..to which the sailors trice-up the middle of their hammocks out of the headway. 1909 Athenæum 30 Mar. 339/2 The tricing-up of a refractory midshipman to the mast-head. |