Please enable javascript to see: All 41 uses | ...for as Father says, trifles show character. – trifles = small unimportant things – Chpt 2.33 | ...she was not to be trifled with. – trifle...

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All 41 Uses of

trifle

in

Little Women

There was a good deal of rustling and whispering behind the curtain, a trifle of lamp smoke, and an occasional giggle from Amy, who was apt to get hysterical in the excitement of the moment.†
Chpt 1.2 (definition 1)

He knew my father years ago, and he sent me a polite note this afternoon, saying he hoped I would allow him to express his friendly feeling toward my children by sending them a few trifles in honor of the day.†
Chpt 1.2 (definition 1)

Down they went, feeling a trifle timid, for they seldom went to parties, and informal as this little gathering was, it was an event to them.†
Chpt 1.3 (definition 1)

At the Kings' she daily saw all she wanted, for the children's older sisters were just out, and Meg caught frequent glimpses of dainty ball dresses and bouquets, heard lively gossip about theaters, concerts, sleighing parties, and merrymakings of all kinds, and saw money lavished on trifles which would have been so precious to her.†
Chpt 1.4 (definition 1)

"I don't believe you are!" exclaimed the boy, looking at her with much admiration, though he privately thought she would have good reason to be a trifle afraid of the old gentleman, if she met him in some of his moods.†
Chpt 1.5 (definition 1)

But these were mere trifles, and they assured their mother that the experiment was working finely.†
Chpt 1.11 (definition 1)

"Yes, but I don't know much, except about bread and a few trifles.†
Chpt 1.11 (definition 1)

Her hot cheeks cooled a trifle, and she drew a long breath as the pretty glass plates went round, and everyone looked graciously at the little rosy islands floating in a sea of cream.†
Chpt 1.11 (definition 1)

Could swim like a duck, paddled round the castle till he came to a little door guarded by two stout fellows, knocked their heads together till they cracked like a couple of nuts, then, by a trifling exertion of his prodigious strength, he smashed in the door, went up a pair of stone steps covered with dust a foot thick, toads as big as your fist, and spiders that would frighten you into hysterics, Miss March.†
Chpt 1.12 (definition 1)

"Go on, please," said Laurie, as Jo became absorbed in her work, looking a trifle displeased.†
Chpt 1.13 (definition 1)

Down dropped the rubbers, and the tea was very near following, as Meg put out her hand, with a face so full of gratitude that Mr. Brooke would have felt repaid for a much greater sacrifice than the trifling one of time and comfort which he was about to take.†
Chpt 1.15 (definition 1)

I never snivel over trifles like that.†
Chpt 1.15 (definition 1)

March bein' told, and worried just for sech a trifle.'†
Chpt 1.18 (definition 1)

You are rather too kind sometimes, and then just a trifle hasty when he tries your patience.†
Chpt 1.21 (definition 1)

What the dickens does the fellow expect?" and the old gentleman looked a trifle ashamed of his own testiness.†
Chpt 1.21 (definition 1)

I came to get my umbrella, that is, to see how your father finds himself today," said Mr. Brooke, getting a trifle confused as his eyes went from one telltale face to the other.†
Chpt 1.23 (definition 1)

I only moaned a trifle to keep the girls company.†
Chpt 2.24 (definition 1)

Then the cake and ice cost more than Amy expected, so did the wagon, and various other expenses, which seemed trifling at the outset, counted up rather alarmingly afterward.†
Chpt 2.26 (definition 1)

Her mother thought that there was a trifle too much description.†
Chpt 2.27 (definition 1)

Sallie was very kind, and often offered her the coveted trifles, but Meg declined them, knowing that John wouldn't like it, and then this foolish little woman went and did what John disliked even worse.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)

She always felt wicked after it, for the pretty things were seldom necessaries, but then they cost so little, it wasn't worth worrying about, so the trifles increased unconsciously, and in the shopping excursions she was no longer a passive looker-on.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)

But the trifles cost more than one would imagine, and when she cast up her accounts at the end of the month the sum total rather scared her.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)

That had been one of her last 'trifles', and John's eye had fallen on it as he spoke.†
Chpt 2.28 (definition 1)

I'll gossip and giggle, and have horrors and raptures over any trifle you like.†
Chpt 2.29 (definition 1)

May Chester was rather jealous of Amy because the latter was a greater favorite than herself, and just at this time several trifling circumstances occurred to increase the feeling.†
Chpt 2.30 (definition 1)

"Girls' quarrels are soon over," returned her mother, feeling a trifle ashamed of her own part in this one, as well she might.†
Chpt 2.30 (definition 1)

The other gentlemen speculated with equal rashness in all sorts of frail trifles, and wandered helplessly about afterward, burdened with wax flowers, painted fans, filigree portfolios, and other useful and appropriate purchases.†
Chpt 2.30 (definition 1)

The young lady herself received the news as tidings of great joy, went about in a solemn sort of rapture, and began to sort her colors and pack her pencils that evening, leaving such trifles as clothes, money, and passports to those less absorbed in visions of art than herself.†
Chpt 2.30 (definition 1)

Now, the old sofa was a regular patriarch of a sofa—long, broad, well-cushioned, and low, a trifle shabby, as well it might be, for the girls had slept and sprawled on it as babies, fished over the back, rode on the arms, and had menageries under it as children, and rested tired heads, dreamed dreams, and listened to tender talk on it as young women.†
Chpt 2.32 (definition 1)

If you could be in my place for a month you'd see things that would astonish you a trifle.†
Chpt 2.32 (definition 1)

When I lost sight of Father's dear old face, I felt a trifle blue, and might have shed a briny drop or two, if an Irish lady with four small children, all crying more or less, hadn't diverted my mind, for I amused myself by dropping gingerbread nuts over the seat every time they opened their mouths to roar.†
Chpt 2.33 (definition 1)

...for as Father says, trifles show character.
Chpt 2.33 (definition 1) *

trifles = small unimportant things

Such trifles do escape the editorial mind, it is said.†
Chpt 2.34 (definition 1)

Her readers were not particular about such trifles as grammar, punctuation, and probability, and Mr. Dashwood graciously permitted her to fill his columns at the lowest prices, not thinking it necessary to tell her that the real cause of his hospitality was the fact that one of his hacks, on being offered higher wages, had basely left him in the lurch.†
Chpt 2.34 (definition 1)

...she was not to be trifled with.
Chpt 2.37 (definition 2) *

trifled with = treated thoughtlessly or without respect

For Demi inherited a trifle of his sire's firmness of character, we won't call it obstinacy, and when he made up his little mind to have or to do anything, all the king's horses and all the king's men could not change that pertinacious little mind.†
Chpt 2.38 (definition 1)

She put them in his buttonhole as a peace offering, and he stood a minute looking down at them with a curious expression, for in the Italian part of his nature there was a touch of superstition, and he was just then in that state of half-sweet, half-bitter melancholy, when imaginative young men find significance in trifles and food for romance everywhere.†
Chpt 2.39 (definition 1)

All in a minute various hints and trifles assumed shape and significance in Amy's mind, and told her what her sister never had confided to her.†
Chpt 2.39 (definition 1)

"A trifle, perhaps, she's such a captivating little woman I can't help being proud of her.†
Chpt 2.43 (definition 1)

Within lie snoods that bound her hair, Slippers that have danced their last, Faded flowers laid by with care, Fans whose airy toils are past, Gay valentines, all ardent flames, Trifles that have borne their part In girlish hopes and fears and shames, The record of a maiden heart Now learning fairer, truer spells, Hearing, like a blithe refrain, The silver sound of bridal bells In the falling summer rain.†
Chpt 2.46 (definition 1)

Then a family of six or seven boys sprung up like mushrooms, and flourished surprisingly, poor boys as well as rich, for Mr. Laurence was continually finding some touching case of destitution, and begging the Bhaers to take pity on the child, and he would gladly pay a trifle for its support.†
Chpt 2.47 (definition 1)

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Grouped by 2 Meanings

Definitions:

(1) (trifle as in: a trifling matter)
something of small importance; or a small quantity

(2) (trifle with as in: trifle with her affections)
to treat somebody or something thoughtlessly or without respect