trickle

Definition

A very thin river.

Etymology

From Middle English triklen, likely a rebracketing (e.g. teres strikled > teerys trikled (“tears trickled”)) of Middle English striklen (“to trickle”), equivalent to strike + -le. For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, nickname, orange, umpire.

Example Sentences

• "The brook had shrunk to a mere trickle."
• "The tap of the washbasin in my bedroom is leaking and the trickle drives me mad at night."
• "The streams that run south and east from the mountains to the coast are short and rapid torrents after a storm, but at other times dwindle to feeble trickles of mud."