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A trifle; trifling talk; nonsense. [Colloq.] Spectator.

A trifle. [Low] Hudibras.

Precise in trifles; idly busy. [Colloq.] Smart.

To play the fool; to trifle; to toy; to spend time in idle sport or mirth. Is this a time for fooling Dryden.

A trifler; a fribble.

To act frivolously; to trifle. Kipling. -- Friv"ol*er (#), Friv"ol*ler, n. [All Colloq.]

A tumult; a bustle; unnecessary or annoying ado about trifles. Byron. Zealously, assiduously, and with a minimum of fuss or noise Carlyle.

Making a fuss; disposed to make an unnecessary ado about trifles; overnice; fidgety. Not at all fussy about his personal appearance. R. G. White.

A showy trifle; a toy; a splendid plaything; a pretty but worthless bauble. A heavy gewgaw called a crown. Dryden.

, a bird that catches gnats. -- Gnat strainer, a person ostentatiously punctilious about trifles. Cf. Matt. xxiii. 24.

The goods and wares sold by a haberdasher; also (Fig.), trifles. Burke.

gling sound, as a rattle. If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain them with trifles and jingles,but use them justly. Bacon.

A trifle or toy; a bawble; a gewgaw.

Knowledge; hence, experience. " In my knowing." Shak. This sore night Hath trifled former knowings. Shak.

Belonging or becoming to a lady; ladylike. "Some lady trifles." Shak.

A person devoted to the study of literary trifles, esp. trifles belonging to the literature of a former age. That class of subjects which are interesting to the regular literator or black-letter " bibliomane," simply because they have once been interesting. De Quincey.

A trifle; a trinket; a token. [Obs.] Spenser.

To fall into strifle; to quarrel. [Obs.] Shak.

A trifle; a piece of foolery. [Obs.] Skinner.

A trifle. [Obs.] Chaucer.