All 5 Uses
trifle
in
Faust -- translated by Brooks
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- Is it not dust that makes this lofty wall
Groan with its hundred shelves and cases;
The rubbish and the thousand trifles all
That crowd these dark, moth-peopled places?†Chpt All *trifles = things of small importance - A title, first, their confidence must waken,
That your art many another art transcends,
Then may you, lucky man, on all those trifles reckon
For which another years of groping spends:
Know how to press the little pulse that dances,
And fearlessly, with sly and fiery glances,
Clasp the dear creatures round the waist
To see how tightly they are laced.†Chpt All - Just shut it up, here, in the press,
I swear to you, 'twill turn her senses;
I meant the trifles, I confess,
To scale another fair one's fences.†Chpt All - Mere trifles these; you need not heed 'em,
If he, on his part, not o'er-nice,
Winked at, in you, an occasional freedom.†Chpt All - I'd pledge the goddess, too, to show how high I set her,
Right gladly, if your wines were just a trifle better.†Chpt All
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) A trifle can refer to a kind of dessert. In classic literature, trifling can be a synonym for small talk.