Both Uses of
trifle
in
A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, And interchang'd love-tokens with my child: Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung, With feigning voice, verses of feigning love; And stol'n the impression of her fantasy With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats,—messengers Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth;— With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart; Turned her obedience, which is due to me, To stubborn harshness.†
Scene 1.1 *trifles = things of small importance
- His mother was a vot'ress of my order: And, in the spiced Indian air, by night, Full often hath she gossip'd by my side; And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, Marking the embarked traders on the flood; When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive, And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait Following,—her womb then rich with my young squire,— Would imitate; and sail upon the land, To fetch me trifles, and return again, As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.†
Scene 2.1
Definitions:
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(1)
(trifle as in: a trifling matter) something of small importance; or a small quantity
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(2)
(trifle with as in: trifle with her affections) to treat somebody or something thoughtlessly or without respect
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Less commonly, a trifle can refer to a kind of dessert. In classic literature, trifling can be a synonym for small talk.