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”).
Meanings
(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. 1875 August, Clements R[obert] Markham, “Arctic Ice-travels”, in E[dward] L[ivingston] Youmans, editor, The Popular Science Monthly, volume VII, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, page 479:
(transitive) To drag or haul, especially with a rope; specifically (nautical) to haul or hoist and tie up by means of a rope.
One of the two men landed had shot and wounded the mate, and the other, known as "Doublin Jack," had knocked the second mate down with a handspike. Captain Low put both these men in irons, triced them up in the mizzen rigging, and gave them each four dozen lashes of ratline stuff, which they had well earned. 1911, Arthur H[amilton] Clark, “California Clippers of 1852—The ‘Sovereign of the Seas’”, in The Clipper Ship Era: An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews 1843–1869, New York, N.Y.; London: G. P. Putnam's Sons […], →OCLC, page 215:
... the fold of his double chin hung like a bag triced up close under the hinge of his jaw. 1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 3, in Lord Jim:
bg притягам (to haul or hoist and tie up) · nl optrekken (to pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply — see also pull) · bg привързвам (to haul or hoist and tie up) · nl slepen (to pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply — see also pull) · bg дърпам (to drag or haul, especially with a rope) · nl optrekken (to haul or hoist and tie up) · nl ophalen (to haul or hoist and tie up)
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.
Meanings
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. 1586, William Warner, “The Fourth Booke. Chapter XXXIII.”, in Albions England. Or Historicall Map of the Same Island: […], London: […] George Robinson [and R. Ward] for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 162:
Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; / It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." / And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; / Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum." 1907, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses, New York, N.Y.: Barse & Hopkins, publishers, →OCLC, page 53:
This is most ſtrange, that ſhe, who even but now / Was your beſt object, the argument of your praiſe, / Balme of your age, moſt beſt, moſt deereſt, / Should in this trice of time commit a thing / So monſtrous, to diſmantell ſo many foulds of fauour, […] c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
Perhaps images then, not words? Of terrified young people who in a trice went from dancing to frantic running in a futile attempt to escape the spray of bullets; […] 2023 October 14, Simon Schama, “Let us be, to grieve, rage, weep; say the mourners’ kaddish”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9:
He saw a Turnkey in a trice / Unfetter a troublesome blade; 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 85:
And in a trice he has clambered onto the kitchen dresser and is reaching for the top shelf. 2013, J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee, chapter 22, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Vic.: The Text Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 220:
bg миг (very short time) · de Augenblick (very short time) · nl oogwenk (very short time) · cmn 瞬间 (very short time) · ro moment (very short time) · ru миг (very short time) · bg момент (very short time) · ro clipită (very short time) · cs okamžik (very short time) · cs mžik (very short time)
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”).
Meanings
(obsolete, rare) A pulley, a windlass (“form of winch for lifting heavy weights, comprising a cable or rope wound around a cylinder”).