trot

1 of 4

verb

trotted; trotting

intransitive verb

1
: to ride, drive, or proceed at a trot
the fox trotted over the knoll
2
: to proceed briskly : hurry

transitive verb

1
: to cause to go at a trot
2
: to traverse at a trot

trot

2 of 4

noun (1)

1
a(1)
: a moderately fast gait of a quadruped (such as a horse) in which the legs move in diagonal pairs
(2)
: a jogging gait of a human that falls between a walk and a run
b
: a ride on horseback
2
trots plural : diarrhea
used with the
3
: an old woman
4
: a literal translation of a foreign text

trot

3 of 4

noun (2)

: trotline
also : one of the short lines with hooks that are attached to a trotline at intervals

Trot

4 of 4

noun (3)

: an adherent of Trotskyism : trotskyist, trotskyite

Example Sentences

Verb A horse trotted past us. The batter trotted around the bases after hitting a home run. She trotted off to help. The little boy trotted along after his mother.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
With that said, what Ayton did last year wasn't easy, and the Suns can't trot him out for 48 minutes every night. Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 2 Feb. 2022 Other lovers of the bag include Bella Hadid, who trot around New York with it this past summer, and Euphoria’s Alexa Demie, who has it in silver. Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 31 Jan. 2022 Yaz, Jim Rice, and Mo Vaughn (who walked so Papi could trot) never quite could. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Jan. 2022 Luis Torrens drove a Dennis Santana pitch off the wall in right center field with one out to easily allow Jarred Kelenic to trot home from third base with the winning run in the Mariners 2-1 victory. Dallas News, 12 Aug. 2021 Tuesday at Oracle Park, one major mistake changed the course of the evening, when Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger uncorked a wild throw over third, allowing Buster Posey to trot in with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 July 2021 But Short's hard contact was enough for Cabrera — who advanced to third base on a wild pitch — to trot home for a 1-0 lead. Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 2 July 2021 And on the evening of April 25, Miller had their neighbor’s 11-year-old Maltipoo, who the couple sometimes dog-sits, trot into their apartment with the ring in a bag around its neck. Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2020 And yet Icelandic horses trot around, calmly, with their poofy bangs and fresh, lush, cotton-candy blowouts, grazing between glaciers and volcanoes. Yael Martínez, New York Times, 21 Sep. 2022
Noun
Bridgerton breakout star Phoebe Dynevor as hot-to-trot junior investment analysts working at a cutthroat Wall Street firm. Vulture, 31 Jan. 2023 The business offered dance lessons from tango to rumba to the fox trot, and rented its space for events. Andrew Dalton And Jae C. Hong, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Jan. 2023 The business offered dance lessons from tango to rumba to the fox trot, and rented its space for events. Andrew Dalton, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Jan. 2023 The business offered dance lessons from tango to rumba to the fox trot, and rented its space for events. Dallas News, 22 Jan. 2023 The women are not the usual crew of twentysomething bachelorettes but, instead, hot-to-trot peri- or post-menopausal foxes, who are looking for youngsters to canoodle with. Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2023 Jean-Paul Andre drives Lutin D’Isigny to a world record trot for the 1¼-mile in 2:30, smashing the record of 2:31.2 shared by Speedy Scot and Noble Victory. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2022 White was originally supposed to portray the hot-to-trot widow Blanche Devereaux on the comedy series about for senior women living together in Miami. Lisa Respers France, CNN, 1 Jan. 2022 But its gait turns to a trot around 80 mph, which takes 6.2 seconds to reach. K.c. Colwell, Car and Driver, 28 Dec. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from troter to trot, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German trottōn to tread, Old English tredan

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

Noun (2)

1883, in the meaning defined above

Noun (3)

1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of trot was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near trot

Cite this Entry

“Trot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trot. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

Kids Definition

trot

1 of 2 noun
1
: a moderately fast gait of a four-footed animal (as a horse) in which a front foot and the opposite hind foot move at the same time
2
: a human jogging pace between a walk and a run

trot

2 of 2 verb
trotted; trotting
1
: to ride, drive, go, or cause to go at a trot
2
: to go along quickly : hurry

More from Merriam-Webster on trot

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