trice Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
    instant; wink; blink of an eye; flash; New York minute; twinkling; jiffy; heartbeat; split second.
    • if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash
  2. verb raise with a line
    trice up.
    • trice a window shade
  3. verb hoist up or in and lash or secure with a small rope
    trice up.

WordNet

Trice transitive verb
Etymology
OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley, to trice, LG. trisse a pulley, D. trijsen to hoist.
Definitions
  1. To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. Obs.
    Out of his seat I will him trice. Chaucer.
  2. (Naut.) To haul and tie up by means of a rope.
Trice noun
Etymology
Sp. tris the noise made by the breaking of glass, an instant, en un tris in an instant; probably of imitative origin.
Definitions
  1. A very short time; an instant; a moment; -- now used only in the phrase in a trice. "With a trice." Turbervile. " On a trice." Shak.
    A man shall make his fortune in a trice. Young.

Webster 1913