trinket

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈtɹɪŋkɪt/ / /ˈtɹɪŋkət/

noun

Etymology: 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), from tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”). Cognates * Catalan trinquet, triquete * French trinquet, trinquette * Italian trinchetto * Portuguese traquete * Spanish trinquete, trinquetilla

A small sail, specifically, a three-cornered sail formerly carried on a ship's foremast, probably on a lateen yard.
“[H]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.”
“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.”

verb

Etymology: Possibly borrowed from Scots trinket, trincket; further origin unknown, possibly related to: * 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).

To act in a secret, and often dishonest, way; to have secret, and often dishonest, dealings; to intrigue, to scheme.
“And if any one aſkes me, hovv? and if I be of their Cabinet Council? I ſhall onely ſmile, perceiving they doe not knovv me. I am far from that, or having ever to doe vvith Kings or States in that kind, or pragmatically trinketing vvith State affaires, it being a Rule vvhich I live by, never to aſke great men mercy.”
“[T]he Pharisees were men of business, and that in a very eminent manner, as appears by their behaviour both in the court of Queen [Salome] Alexandra, and afterwards in the court of Herod [the Great]; where by their tricks and trinketing between party and party, and their intriguing it with courtiers and court-ladies, they had upon the matter set the whole court together by the ears; […]”