Hypertext Webster Gateway: "trifling"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Trifle \Tri"fle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Trifled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Trifling}.] [OE. trifelen, truflen. See {Trifle}, n.]
To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight, or
dignity; to act or talk with levity; to indulge in light or
trivial amusements.
They trifle, and they beat the air about nothing which
toucheth us. --Hooker.
{To trifle with}, to play the fool with; to treat without
respect or seriousness; to mock; as, to trifle with one's
feelings, or with sacred things.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Trifling \Tri"fling\, a.
Being of small value or importance; trivial; paltry; as, a
trifling debt; a trifling affair. -- {Tri"fling*ly}, adv. --
{Tri"fling*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
trifling
adj : not worth considering; "he considered the prize too paltry
for the lives it must cost"; "piffling efforts"; "a
trifling matter" [syn: {negligible}, {paltry}]
n : the deliberate act of wasting time instead of working [syn:
{dalliance}, {dawdling}, {wasting time}]
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