trim > define

noun

• A state of arrangement or appearance.
  • usage: "in good trim"
  • synonyms: trimness
• A decoration or adornment on a garment.
  • usage: "the trimming on a hat"; "the trim on a shirt"
  • synonyms: trimming, passementerie
• Attitude of an aircraft in flight when allowed to take its own orientation.
• Cutting down to the desired size or shape.
  • synonyms: trimming, clipping

verb

• Remove the edges from and cut down to the desired size.
  • usage: "pare one's fingernails"; "trim the photograph"; "trim lumber"
  • synonyms: pare
• Decorate, as with ornaments.
  • usage: "trim the christmas tree"; "trim a shop window"
• Cut down on; make a reduction in.
  • usage: "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits"
  • synonyms: reduce, cut down, cut back, trim down, trim back, cut, bring down
• Balance in flight by regulating the control surfaces.
  • usage: "trim an airplane"
• Be in equilibrium during a flight.
  • usage: "The airplane trimmed"
• Decorate (food), as with parsley or other ornamental foods.
  • synonyms: garnish, dress
• Cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of.
  • usage: "dress the plants in the garden"
  • synonyms: snip, clip, crop, lop, dress, prune, cut back
• Cut closely.
  • usage: "trim my beard"
  • synonyms: shave
• Adjust (sails on a ship) so that the wind is optimally used.

adjective

• Thin and fit.
  • usage: "the spare figure of a marathon runner"; "a body kept trim by exercise"
  • synonyms: spare
• Of places; characterized by order and neatness; free from disorder.
  • usage: "even the barn was shipshape"; "a trim little sailboat"
  • synonyms: shipshape, well-kept
• Neat and smart in appearance.
  • usage: "a clean-cut and well-bred young man"; "the trig corporal in his jaunty cap"; "a trim beard"
  • synonyms: clean-cut, trig
• Severely simple in line or design.
  • usage: "a neat tailored suit"; "tailored curtains"
  • synonyms: tailored

• (n.) The state of a ship or her cargo, ballast, masts, etc., by which she is well prepared for sailing.
• (v.t.) To dress, as timber; to make smooth.
• (n.) The lighter woodwork in the interior of a building; especially, that used around openings, generally in the form of a molded architrave, to protect the plastering at those points.
• (v.t.) Fitly adjusted; being in good order. or made ready for service or use; firm; compact; snug; neat; fair; as, the ship is trim or trim built; everything about the man is trim; a person is trim when his body is well shaped and firm; his dress is trim when it fits closely to his body, and appears tight and snug; a man or a soldier is trim when he stands erect.
• (v.t.) To make trim; to put in due order for any purpose; to make right, neat or pleasing; to adjust.
• (n.) Dress; gear; ornaments.
• (v.t.) To dress; to decorate; to adorn; to invest; to embellish; as, to trim a hat.
• (v.i.) To balance; to fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favor each.
• (v.t.) To arrange in due order for sailing; as, to trim the sails.
• (n.) Order; disposition; condition; as, to be in good trim.
• (v.t.) To adjust, as a ship, by arranging the cargo or disposing the weight of persons or goods, so equally on each side of the center and at each end, that she shall sit well on the water and sail well; as, to trim a ship or a boat.
• (v.t.) To rebuke; to reprove; also, to beat.
• (v.t.) To make ready or right by cutting or shortening; to clip or lop; to curtail; as, to trim the hair; to trim a tree.