Careful Words

trim (n.)

trim (v.)

trim (adj.)

When proud-pied April, dress'd in all his trim,

Hath put a spirit of youth in everything.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnet xcviii.

And add to these retired Leisure,

That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.

John Milton (1608-1674): Il Penseroso. Line 49.

Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows;

While proudly riding o'er the azure realm

In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes,

Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm;

Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,

That hush'd in grim repose expects his evening prey.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): The Bard. II. 2, Line 9.

Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim,

When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Meadows trim with daisies pied,

Shallow brooks and rivers wide;

Towers and battlements it sees

Bosom'd high in tufted trees,

Where perhaps some beauty lies,

The cynosure of neighboring eyes.

John Milton (1608-1674): L'Allegro. Line 75.

  Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on,—how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour; what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. 'T is insensible, then? yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I 'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act v. Sc. 1.

The blinded boy that shootes so trim,

From heaven downe did hie.

Thomas Percy (1728-1811): King Cophetua and the Beggar-maid.