▪ I. trickle, n.1
(ˈtrɪk(ə)l)
[f. trickle v.]
1. A falling or flowing drop; a tear; a small quantity of liquid; a small fitful stream.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Pleur, a teare, a trickle. [So 1611 in Cotgrave.] 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Trickle, a drop. 1855 Browning Another Way of Love iii, Delicious as trickles Of wine poured at mass-time. 1857 Mrs. Gatty Parab. fr. Nat. Ser. ii. (1868) 12 The waterfall..was reduced to a miserable trickle. 1897 ‘A. Hope’ Phroso ix, Vlacho's blood began to curl in a meandering trickle from beneath the curtain. |
| fig. 1853 C. Brontë Villette viii, No flow, only a hesitating trickle of language. 1895 Baring-Gould Noémi v, But it [money] comes in in trickles and goes out in floods. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 637 It will only serve to bring down the little trickle of native trade. |
2. Special Comb.: trickle charger Electr., a device for charging a storage battery at a low rate over a long period; hence trickle-charge n. (in quot., attrib.) and. v. trans.; trickle-charged ppl. a.; trickle-charging vbl. n.; trickle irrigation (see quot. 1969); hence (as back-formation) trickle-irrigate v. trans.
| 1959 Times 11 Sept. 7/4 It is ideal for trickle-charge operation. 1974 Undercurrents July–Aug. 3/3 This..produced a few hundred milliamps at about 10 volts in a fair breeze—enough to trickle-charge a small battery. |
| 1938 Proc. Physical Soc. L. 422 The driving, demultiplying, and amplifying circuits were operated by trickle-charged batteries. |
| 1927 Observer 24 July 4/5 A fool-proof set..is provided with a ‘trickle charger’ for keeping the filament battery up to strength. 1977 Film & Television Technician Mar. 11/3 Complete with its internal rechargeable batteries and a built-in trickle charger, the D34 weighs in at only 12 lbs. |
| 1960 E. L. Delmar-Morgan Cruising Yacht Equipment & Navigation xvi. 175 This ‘trickle charging’ is..harmful for the type of batteries used in yachts. |
| 1971 World Bk. Sci. Ann. 1972 255 Vast areas in the Negev Desert of Israel are now trickle-irrigated. |
| 1969 Gloss. for Landscape Work (B.S.I.) v. 13 Trickle irrigation, a method of supplying water by means of a restricted, controlled flow to the surface of a growing medium (usually at discrete points, one to each plant). 1975 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 43/1 The research workers..are hopeful that trickle irrigation, by maintaining even soil moisture, will give some help. |
▪ II. ˈtrickle, n.2
Variant of triddle, treddle. Cf. also dial. tricklings in Eng. Dial. Dict.
| 1598 Florio, Cacarelle, the trickles or dung of sheepe, goates, rats or conies. 1639 O. Wood Alph. Bk. Secrets 23 Sheepes trickles. |
▪ III. † ˈtrickle, a. Obs. rare.
[f. trick n. or v. + -le 1 (as in brittle), but apparently influenced by tickle a.]
Tricky, treacherous; ticklish; requiring caution; = tricky a. 2.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 14 In humble dales is footing fast, The trode is not so trickle [v.r. tickle]. 1594 Willobie Avisa (1880) 136 Such trickle trades procure a suddaine fall. |
Hence † ˈtrickleness. Obs. rare—1.
| a 1618 J. Davies Wittes Pilgr. (Grosart) 45/2 O Time..That neuer mou'st, but dost my Sences moue To mind thy flight, and this lifes trickelnesse. |
▪ IV. trickle, v.
(ˈtrɪk(ə)l)
Forms: 4–6 trekel, (4 Sc. trygle, 4–5 trikle, trekil, 6 Sc. trigle, -il), 5 trikel, -il, -trekyl, -ll, 5–6 trickil, -el, -ell, 6 tryckel, (triccle, trycle, 7 truckle), 6– trickle: see also trinkle v.1
[History doubtful. In the first Chaucer passage (sense 1) one MS. out of seven, the Lansdowne, has strikle, which is taken by Prof. Skeat as the original form (the initial s being lost after a prec. word in -s, e.g. teres), and this as a freq. or dim. of ME. strīken to strike (the reading of two of the Chaucer MSS.) occurring twice elsewhere in sense ‘flow’ (‘ase strem that striketh stille’, ‘strikeð a stream ut of þæt stanene þruh’), OE. str{iacu}can to strike, also to go, move, run. As to form and sense, this is possible; but no other ME. examples of strikle are known, so that the evidence is scanty.
(Cf. however MHG. strîchen to strike, also to move, travel, wander, and Ger. streichen, said of a ship as ‘das Schiff streicht durch die Wellen’.)]
1. intr. a. Originally said of tears: To flow or fall in successive drops.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurentius) 278 Þane laurence handis one hym lad With t[r]ygland terys. c 1386 Chaucer Prioress' T. 222 Hise salte teeris trikled [v.rr. trekelede, stryked, striked, strikled] doun as reyn. ― Sompn. T. 156 With many a teare triklyng [v.rr. trynkelynge, trillyng] on my cheke. a 1400–50 Alexander 4974 Þar trekild doun of þa teres of iemmes [gems], Boyland out of þe barke bawme & mirre. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. vi. 66 (ed. 1553) Be al thir teris trigilland [ed. Small tringling] ouer my face. Ibid. vi. xi. 14 The teris trigling [ed. Small thringling] ouer his chekis ran. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke vii. 74 The fete of Iesus beeyng well washed with teres tryclyng down from hir yies. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. i. (1593) 12 The bitter teares did trickle downe their cheeke. 1702 Pope Sappho 200 And silent tears fall trickling from my eyes. 1843 Lever J. Hinton xi, Tears of..joy trickled slowly down her cheeks. |
b. Of other liquids; rarely of powders or granulated substances. Also, to flow in a very scanty and halting stream.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 249 b, Yssued out blode & water..lyke droppes tricclyng downe to the grounde. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 583 From his spring heads Trent trickleth downe. 1683 Ware Hunting of Romish Fox v. 87 The Blood..ran thrô the crevises of the Crown of Thorns, and truckled down the Face of this Image. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 261 The hill or gullet where the water trickled down from the rocks. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. iii, The flour was trickling down out of two wooden spouts. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) x. 241 A small glacier trickles into the desolate valley. |
c. transf. and fig. Also used facetiously for ‘to make one's way, go’. Cf. ooze v.1 2 c.
| 1628 [see trickling vbl. n.] 1728 Pope Dunc. iii. 201 Fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 7 ¶4 The rivulets of intelligence which are continually trickling. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 5 What can be more wonderful than to see a man's thoughts trickling from the end of his pen at the rate of nearly a word a second! 1901 Scotsman 11 Mar. 9/1 Then another thousand rupees came trickling in. 1912 R. Brooke Let. Feb. (1968) 357, I wrote to her, about her perhaps trickling down to Rugby. 1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas iii. 32 In these circs, it seemed to me that the best way of passing the time would be to trickle over to the table where the drinks were and brace myself with one or two. 1961 ― Service with Smile (1962) vii. 100 He headed for the lake. I trickled after him. 1983 Country Life 5 May 1194/3 Trickling through morning traffic..it [sc. a car] showed its docility by contentedly running in fifth. |
2. intr. To emit falling or flowing drops; to drip or run (with tears, blood, etc.); to shed tears.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 8058 Yf the ton ee with teres trickell on hir chekes. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 32 Fast he stood: and trickling dyd speake. 1611 Bible Lam. iii. 49 Mine eye trickleth downe and ceaseth not. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. ix, His hand was trickling down with blood. |
3. a. trans. To emit or give forth in successive drops or a thin fitful stream; also, to cause to trickle; to pour drop by drop, or in a fitful stream.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. v, The vaines..Trickling fresh goare about my fist. 1671 Woodhead St. Teresa i. xxii. 147 We behold him..trickling blood. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 186 Ye gushing Fountains, that trickle potable silver through the matted grass. 1854 Dickens Hard T. ii. i, The mills..oozed and trickled it [oil]. 1863 Reade Hard Cash xxi, With adroit and tender hands they..trickled stimulants down her throat. 1878 T. L. Cuyler Pointed Papers 144 He knows every wound that trickles its silent drops from the bleeding spirit. |
b. fig. with off or out: To let go one by one.
| 1657 Reeve God's Plea 26 Thus doth the voluptuous man measure out his time, trickle out his hours. 1907 Blackw. Mag. July 36/2 The company commanders begin to trickle off their men. |
c. Sport. To cause (a ball) to travel slowly over the ground, esp. in golf. Also to trickle a putt. Also absol.
| 1902 Daily Chron. 20 Aug. 7/3 He can..trickle the ball away to fine-leg with a delicate turn of the wrist. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 6 Feb. 3/2 If you bolt at the hole, you will not need to make the same allowance for incline as if you trickled. 1927 Daily Tel. 14 Mar. 13/1 ‘I will trickle the..putt up to the hole.’.. It certainly was a trickle..for the ball stopped five feet short of the hole. |
4. Comb.: trickle-down a., of or based on the theory that economic benefits to particular groups will inevitably be passed on to those less well off; also transf. as n., a filtering down (of money or ideas). orig. and chiefly U.S.
| [1931 W. Rogers in Tulsa Daily World 12 July iv. 7/3 What about the old Boys here on the home grounds? Well maybe this thing will eventually reach him in some beneficial way. Lord knows what way it may trickle down to him some day.] 1944 Antioch Rev. Summer 192 In agriculture, as in business, they are devotees of the trickle-down philosophy. 1949 H. S. Truman in Sun (Baltimore) 6 Jan. 6/1 We have rejected the discredited theory that the fortunes of the nation should be in the hands of a privileged few. We have abandoned the ‘trickle-down’ concept of national prosperity. 1954 Sun (Baltimore) 13 Feb. (b ed.) 2/1 The Administration has already offered us a trickle-down tax program. Now, we are presented with a trickle-down housing program. 1962 C. Walsh From Utopia to Nightmare i. 18 There has been a trickle-down [of ideas] and permeation. 1971 Publishers' Weekly 6 Dec. 17/2 It is to be hoped that textbook writers come in contact with frontier thinkers or their writings and translate some of the results into educational materials. This is known as the ‘trickle-down’ process. 1977 Time 16 May 38/2 It's classic trickle-down economics. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 508/2 The theory that if you build the industrial capability and increase the GNP of the country there will be a trickle-down to people at subsistence level. 1981 Plate & Darvi Secret Police ii. 42 If the sovereign himself is corrupt or family and relatives are corrupt, there can be a trickle-down effect into the ranks. 1984 New Yorker 16 Apr. 82/2 To Fink this often sounded suspiciously like Republican trickle-down economics. |
▸ trickle-up adj. and n.after trickle-down adj. at 4 orig. and chiefly Polit. and Polit. Econ. (a) adj. of, relating to, or based on the theory that wealth, information, change, etc., moves or should move upward through a hierarchical structure or organization (as a company, an economy, a social group, etc.); (b) n. this theory or an instance of it in operation.
| 1954 N.Y. Times 18 May 32/2 Roger M. Blough.., vice chairman of the board of directors of United States Steel, said here tonight the Administration tax bill now before Congress provided a ‘*trickle-up prescription’ for our national well-being. 1969 Amer. Hist. Rev. 74 871 To push for world history in general education is not enough. It offers only a prospect of gradual osmosis of ideas, a ‘trickle up’ theory, that our leadership will eventually be so well educated in things Asian and Chinese, for example, that they will have the wit and wisdom to avoid disaster in our Asian relations. 1981 R. A. Falk Human Rights & State Sovereignty (1984) vi. 176 The United States and other advanced industrial societies have witnessed ‘trickle-up’ phenomena whenever assaults on poverty have been attempted without also transforming underlying societal structures. 1992 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 26 Apr. 29/1 In the real world, trickle-up is the thing. The tabloid sensibility is now rising from the gutter and soaking into the nation's publishing houses and bookstores. 1998 Financial Times (Electronic ed.) 28 Aug. 9 Supply-side economic measures from the Reagan and Thatcher eras have created not so much a trickle-down but ‘trickle-up’ effect. |