Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To flow or fall in drops or in a thin stream.
  • intransitive verb To move or proceed slowly or bit by bit.
  • intransitive verb To cause to trickle.
  • noun The act or condition of trickling.
  • noun A slow, small, or irregular quantity that moves, proceeds, or occurs intermittently.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A trickling stream; a rill.
  • noun See the quotation.
  • To flow in a small interrupted stream; run down in drops: as, water trickles from the eaves.
  • To let fall a liquid in drops or small broken streams; drip.
  • To pass or flow gently like a small stream.
  • To cause to trickle; pour or shed in small, slow streams.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or state of trickling; also, that which trickles; a small stream; drip.
  • intransitive verb To flow in a small, gentle stream; to run in drops.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A very thin river.
  • noun A very thin flow; the act of trickling.
  • verb transitive to pour a liquid in a very thin stream, or so that drops fall continuously
  • verb intransitive to flow in a very thin stream or drop continuously
  • verb intransitive To move or roll slowly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun flowing in drops; the formation and falling of drops of liquid
  • verb run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English triklen, perhaps variant of striklen, frequentative of striken, to flow; see strike.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originally of tears; from strickle, frequentative of to strike, by elision (probably because tears trickle is easier to pronounce than tears strickle).

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