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ficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries. Buckle. To the people . . . but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule. Foxe.

The merest trifle; a straw. John Bull's friendship is not worth a rush. Arbuthnot. Bog rush. See under Bog. -- Club rush, any rush of the genus Scirpus. -- Flowering rush. See under Flowering. -- Nut rush (a) Any plant of the genus Scleria, rushlike plants with hard nutlike fruits. (b) A name for several species of…

To hesitate; to act in an irresolute manner; hence, to occupy one's self with trifles.

A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion. [Written also slakin.]

Slowness; tardiness. These cardinals trifle with me; I abhor This dilatory sloth and tricks of Rome. Shak.

One who, or that which, snaps; as, a snapper up of trifles; the snapper of a whip.

A trifle. "The soldier's pay is a song." Silliman. Old song, a trifle; nothing of value. "I do not intend to be thus put off with an old song." Dr. H. More. -- Song bird (Zoöl.), any singing bird; one of the Oscines. -- Song sparrow (Zoöl.), a very common North American sparrow (Melospiza fasciata, or M. melodia) not…

aculty is a goodly field, . . . and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles. Sir M. Hale. [He] sowed with stars the heaven. Milton. Now morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl. Milton.

To trifle. "He sports with his own life." Tillotson.

nd we will stick by you." Davenant. (b) To be troublesome by adhering. "I am satisfied to trifle away my time, rather than let it stick by me." Pope. -- To stick out. (a) To project; to be prominent. "His bones that were not seen stick out." Job xxxiii. 21. (b) To persevere in a purpose; to hold out; as, the garrison…

Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing; a mere trifle. I set not a straw by thy dreamings. Chaucer.

Of or pertaining to style in language. [R.] "Stylistic trifles." J. A. Symonds. The great stylistic differences in the works ascribed to him [Wyclif]. G. P. Marsh.

A small degree or quantity; a trifle; as, a thought longer; a thought better. [Colloq.] If the hair were a thought browner. Shak.

A great fool; a trifler.

A thing for amusement, but of no real value; an article of trade of little value; a trifle. They exchange for knives, glasses, and such toys, great abundance of gold and pearl. Abr. Abbot.

One who toys; one who is full of trifling tricks; a trifler.

A toy; a trifle; a plaything. [Obs.] Shak.

A thing of little value; a trifle; a toy.

That which is trivial; a trifle. The philosophy of our times does not expend itself in furious discussions on mere scholastic trivialities. Lyon Playfair.

A bundle; a package; as, a truss of grass. Fabyan. Bearing a truss of trifles at his back. Spenser.