From Middle English trig, tryg, from Old Norse tryggr (“loyal, faithful, true”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (“loyal, faithful, true”). Cognate with Old English trīewe (“faithful, loyal, true”). More at true.
Meanings
(dialectal) True; trusty; trustworthy; faithful.
(dialectal) Safe; secure.
(dialectal) Tight; firm; steady; sound; in good condition or health.
Aye, the Chicopee, a fine-un, she were. Clean-built and trig-lookin’! None more fleet in ‘64 than she... 2019, Robert Eggers, Max Eggers, The Lighthouse (motion picture), spoken by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe):
(dialectal) Neat; tidy; trim; spruce; smart.
“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,[…]. 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
The [torture] stories seemed incongruent with the men telling them – a trim, trig lot who, given a few pounds more flesh, might have stepped right out of a recruiting poster. 1973, Newsweek, April 16
we possess of pig's skin and stirrups to keep them square and trig 1857, J. Rarey, “The Taming of Horses”, in British Quarterly Review:
From Middle English trig, tryg, from Old Norse tryggr (“loyal, faithful, true”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiz (“loyal, faithful, true”). Cognate with Old English trīewe (“faithful, loyal, true”). More at true.
(UK, dialectal) A stone, block of wood, or anything else, placed under a wheel or barrel to prevent motion; a scotch; a skid.
You might as well smite that saw with your fist ; you might as well put a trig under the dam and stop it, as to practise on him 1850, Sylvester Judd, Richard Edney and the Governor's Family:
(dialectal) The mark for players at skittles, etc.
By how much more a mans skin is full treg'd with flesh, blood and natural Spirits. 1660, H[enry] More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; […], London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for W[illiam] Morden […], →OCLC: