trinket

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English

WOTD – 8 December 2024

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

The origin of the noun is unknown; the word is possibly related to Old French tryncle (“piece of jewellery”). The following have also been suggested:

However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, there is insufficient evidence of any shift of meaning from these words to the current meanings of trinket.[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Noun

trinket (plural trinkets)

  2. A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trinket
    That little trinket around her neck must have cost a bundle.
    • 1619, John Fletcher, “The Humorous Lieutenant”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 136, column 2:
      e's an old man, / A good old man, they ſay too: I dare ſvveare / Full many a yeare ago, he left theſe gambols: / Here, take your trinkets.
    • 1713 (indicated as 1714), Gay, “Book I”, in The Fan. A Poem. , London: J Tonson, , →OCLC, page 8:
      Hence is the Fair vvith Ornaments ſupply'd, / Hence ſprung the glitt'ring Implements of Pride; / Each Trinket that adorns the modern Dame, / Firſt to theſe little Artiſts ovv'd its Frame.
    • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Country Described. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume I, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page :
      Glumdalclitch vvrapped it [the broken finger from a statue] up in a Handkerchief; and carried it home in her Pocket to keep among other Trinkets, of vvhich the Girl vvas very fond, as Children at her Age uſually are.
    • 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Tortoise, and Its Kinds”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. , new edition, volume VI, London: F Wingrave, successor to Mr. Nourse, , →OCLC, page 361:
      This [the hawksbill turtle] is the animal that ſupplies the tortoiſe-ſhell, of vvhich ſuch a variety of beautiful trinkets are made.
    • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter IV, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 473:
      James [II] ordered an estimate to be made of the cost of such a procession, and found that it would amount to about half as much as he proposed to expend in covering his wife [Mary of Modena] with trinkets. He accordingly determined to be profuse where he ought to have been frugal, and niggardly where he might pardonably have been profuse. More than one hundred thousand pounds were laid out in dressing the queen, and the procession from the Tower was omitted.
  3. (figurative) A thing of little value; a toy, a trifle.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trifle
    It’s only a little trinket, but it reminds her of him.
    • 1927, M K Gandhi, “The Great Exhibition”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC, part I, pages 189–190:
      There is no art about the Eiffel Tower. In no way can it be said to have contributed to the real beauty of the Exhibition. Men flocked to see it and ascended it as it was a novelty and of unique dimensions. It was the toy of the Exhibition. So long as we are children we are attracted by toys, and the Tower was a good demonstration of the fact that we are all children attracted by trinkets. That may be claimed to be the purpose served by the Eiffel Tower.
  4. (obsolete)
    1. A small item of food; a small dainty.
    2. (chiefly in the plural) A small item forming part of a set of equipment; an accessory, an accoutrement.
      • 1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, “June”, in A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: Richard Tottel, →OCLC, stanza 88, signatures C.iii., verso – C.iiii., recto:
        Good huſbandes that laye, to ſaue all thing vpright: / for Tumbrels and cartes, haue a ſhed redy dight. / A ſtore houſe for trinkets, kept cloſe as a iayle: / that nothing be wanting, the worthe of a nayle.
      • 1599, Vincentius Beluacensis [i.e., Vincent of Beauvais], “ Chap[ter] 17. How the Tartars Behaue Themselues in Warre.”, in Richard Hakluyt, transl., The Principal Nauigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, , 2nd edition, London: George Bishop, Ralph Newberie, and Robert Barker, →OCLC, page 62:
        he poorer ſort of common ſouldiers haue euery man his leather bag or ſachell well ſowen together, wherin he packs vp all his trinkets, and ſtrongly truſſing it vp hangs it at his horſes tayle, and ſo paſſeth ouer, in manner aforeſaid.
      • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC, book II, page 128:
        Dunſtan vvas in his Vocation making ſome iron Trinkets, vvhen a Proteus-Devil appeared unto him, changing into Shapes, but fixing himſelf at laſt into the form of a Fair VVoman. […] Dunſtan perceiving it, pluckt his Tongs glovving hot out of the Fire, and vvith them kept him (or her ſhall I ſay?) there along time by the Noſe roaring and bellovving; till at laſt he brake looſe, by vvhat accident it is not told unto us.
      • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “ The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. , London: Jacob Tonson , →OCLC, page 97, lines 212–213:
        Soon you vvill hear the Saucy Stevvard ſay, / Pack up vvith all your Trinkets, and avvay: […]
    3. (figurative, religion, derogatory) An item used in a religious rite (also, a religious rite, belief, etc.) regarded as superfluous or trivial.
      • 1549 August 26 (Gregorian calendar), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Epistle of the Apostle Saincte Paule to the Colossians. The Argument of the Epistle of Sainct Paule to the Colossians .”, in Iohn Olde , transl., The Seconde Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament: , London: Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio i, recto:
        he ſame teachers with Chriſts doctrine mingled Jewiſhnes and ſuperſticious Philoſophie, obſeruing and keping certain poyntes of the lawe, ſuperſticiously alſo honouring the Sunne, the Moone, and ſtarres, with ſuch other trinkettes of this world, hearing the Coloſſiãs [Colossians] in hand that thei were alſo bound to do the ſame.
      • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC, book VII, page 410:
        The Duke of Somerſet vvas religious himſelf, a lover of all ſuch as vvere ſo, and a great Promoter of Reformation. Valiant, fortunate, vvitneſſe his victory in Muſleborrough field, vvhen the Scots filled many carts vvith emptineſſe, and loaded them vvith vvhat vvas lighter than vanity it ſelf, Popiſh Images, and other Trinkets, vvherein they placed the confidence of their Conqueſt.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

trinket (third-person singular simple present trinkets, present participle trinketing, simple past and past participle trinketed)

  1. (transitive, rare) Often followed by out: to adorn (someone or something) with trinkets (noun sense 1).
    • 1847 June, “an ‘old school’ bard” , “The Good Old Times”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XXIX, number 6, New York, N.Y.: John Allen, , →OCLC, page 498:
      Oh! those were good Dame Nature’s times! / How memories sweet o’er-swarm us, / Ere wasp-like forms were girt around / With ‘bustles’ so enormous; / When modest arms were never bared / And trinketed for show, / Nor ever left their hiding-place, / Save to be hid in dough!
    • 1863, George Augustus Sala, “Of My Service under the Great Turk as Bashaw; of My Adventures in Russia and Other Countries; and of My Coming Home at Last and Buying My Grandmother’s House (which is Now Mine) in Hanover Square”, in The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous: , volume III, London: Tinsley Brothers, , →OCLC, page 306:
      The Girls for sale are apparelled in a sumptuous manner, bathed, perfumed, and trinketed out for their [rich persons'] Private View; and their Captors seek to render 'em docile by giving 'em plenty of Sweetmeats. As if the intolerable pangs of Slavery were to be allayed by Lollipops!
    • 1875 January–December, Henry James, Jr., “Experience”, in Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: James R Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, →OCLC, page 126:
      He was surprised at his own taste, but he let it take its course. It led him to the discovery that to live with ladies who expect you to present them with expensive bouquets, […] to be always arrayed and anointed, trinketed and gloved,—that to move in such society, we say, though it might be a privilege, was a privilege with a penalty attached.
    • 1882, E. R. Moore, compiler, “War”, in Social Philosophy, Toledo, Oh.: The B. F. Wade Co., , →OCLC, page 31:
      The grim idol of war is trinketed out and decked with all the colors of the rainbow. […] But no sooner is the sickle exchanged for the sword, than the soldier findeth this Bellona, whom he had wooed as a goddess in courtship, turneth out to be a demon in possession.
      A rephrasing of C C Colton (1826) “[Reflection] CCLXXXIII”, in Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words; , new edition, volume II, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, , →OCLC, page 181.
    • 1991, Stan Hoig, “A Visit to Washington”, in Jesse Chisholm, Ambassador of the Plains, Niwot, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, →ISBN, page 85:
      On June 26 the party of sun and wind-weathered visitors from the heart of the Texas plains, dressed in their blankets and buckskins, befeathered and trinketed, arrived at the capital city's Globe Hotel and took up residence there
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

PIE word
*tréyes

From trink (“(UK, dialectal, especially Scotland) channel, watercourse; trench”) +‎ -et (diminutive suffix);[4] compare Scots trink.[5] Trink is possibly derived from Occitan trencque, trenque (Picardy), from Old French trenche, tranche (“trench”) (modern French tranche),[6] from trenchier (“to cut”); further etymology uncertain, possibly:

possibly also influenced by Gaulish *trincare (“to cut off (the head)”).

Noun

trinket (plural trinkets)

  1. (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland) A narrow or small watercourse.
    • 1901 September, , “The Conquest of Charlotte. Part I.—My Legacy of Family History. Chapter VII.—The Mackerel Election (continued).”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXX, number MXXXI, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, , →OCLC, page 362, column 1:
      It must have been about the same moment that a smack drew through the fine mist in the Firth [of Forth], and, sailing up the trinket, landed Provost Trail on the east pier-head.
Translations

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain, possibly:[7]

Noun

trinket (plural trinkets)

  1. (UK, dialectal, chiefly Cheshire, Lancashire, obsolete) A small vessel for drinking from; a cup, a mug, a porringer.

Etymology 4

PIE word
*tréyes

Probably from French trinquet (“foremast; sail attached to a foremast”), from Italian trinchetto (“small sail, especially a foresail”), possibly from Latin triquetrus (“three-cornered, triangular”) (referring to a three-cornered sail),[8] from tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”).

Cognates

Noun

trinket (plural trinkets)

  1. (nautical, obsolete) A small sail, specifically, a three-cornered sail formerly carried on a ship's foremast, probably on a lateen yard.
    • 1600, T Livius [i.e., Livy], “”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie , London: Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 943:
      ee ſet up the trinkets or ſmall ſailes, meaning to make vvay into the deepe, commanding them that follovved ſtill, to make head, and direct their provvs againſt the right vving neere the land.
      Used to translate Latin dolones (singular dolon).
    • 1600, Iohn Baptista Ramusio [i.e., Giovanni Battista Ramusio], “The First and Second Discouery of the Gulfe of California,  Chap[ter] 15. They Goe on Land in the Isle of Cedars, and Take Diuers Wilde Beasts, and Refresh and Solace Themselues. .”, in Richard Hakluyt, transl., The Third and Last Volume of the Voyages, Nauigations, Traffiques, and Discoueries of the English Nation, , 2nd edition, London: George Bishop, Ralfe Newberie, and Robert Barker, →OCLC, page 422:
      And the farther we went, the more the winds increaſed, ſo that they put vs to great diſtreſſe, ſayling alwayes with the ſheates of maineſaile and trinket warily in our hands, and with great diligence we looſed the ties of all the ſailes, to ſaue them the better, that the wind might not charge them too vehemently.

Etymology 5

Possibly borrowed from Scots trinket, trincket;[9] further origin unknown, possibly related to:[10]

  • trinket (“item used in a religious rite (also, a religious rite, belief, etc.) regarded as superfluous or trivial”) (see etymology 1); or
  • trick (noun) or trick (verb).

Verb

trinket (third-person singular simple present trinkets, present participle trinketing, simple past and past participle trinketed)

  1. (intransitive, chiefly Scotland, obsolete) To act in a secret, and often dishonest, way; to have secret, and often dishonest, dealings; to intrigue, to scheme.

References

  1. ^ “trenket, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “trinket, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024; “trinket, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “trinket, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.
  4. ^ “trinket, n.4”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  5. ^ “trink, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W Grant and D D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  6. ^ “trink, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024.
  7. ^ “trinket, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  8. ^ “trinket, n.3”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  9. ^ “trinket, trincket, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A Craigie, A J Aitken , editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
  10. ^ “trinket, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

Anagrams

German

Pronunciation

Verb

trinket

  1. second-person plural subjunctive I of trinken
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