n. [ OE. trifle, trufle, OF. trufle mockery, raillery, trifle, probably the same word as F. truffe truffle, the word being applied to any small or worthless object. See Truffle. ] 1. A thing of very little value or importance; a paltry, or trivial, affair. [ 1913 Webster ]

With such poor trifles playing. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmation strong
As proofs of holy writ. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Small sands the mountain, moments make year,
And frifles life. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A dish composed of sweetmeats, fruits, cake, wine, etc., with syllabub poured over it. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To make of no importance; to treat as a trifle. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To spend in vanity; to fritter away; to waste; as, to trifle away money. “We trifle time.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

They trifle, and they beat the air about nothing which toucheth us. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who trifles. Waterland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Being of small value or importance; trivial; paltry; as, a trifling debt; a trifling affair. -- Tri"fling*ly, adv. -- Tri"fling*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Pref. tri- + L. flos, floris, flower. ] (Bot.) Three-flowered; having or bearing three flowers; as, a triflorous peduncle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. tri- + fluctuation. ] A concurrence of three waves. [ Obs. ] “A trifluctuation of evils.” Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]