Word.ws English Dictionary

only trotting after

only trotting after preposition: far behind, below, inferior to; possessing a quality to a far lesser extent than.

Preposition

  1. (Ireland, figuratively, humorous) far behind, below, inferior to; possessing a quality to a far lesser extent than
    • In the Gospel there is a story relating to a poor publican, but I may tell you that the publicans at that time would be only trotting after the publicans of to-day.1924 October 23, John Daly, quotee, “Dáil in Committee. - Intoxicating Liquor Bill, 1924.—Third Stage (Resumed).”, in Dáil debates, volume 9, number 2, Oireachtas, column 193
    • There was not a town or region in Spain that had not made its contribution to the national treasury of cooking […] Granada’s Alhambra was only trotting after the banana dish to which the Moorish city gave its name. That was a dream of a dessert.1944, Maura Laverty, No More Than Human, Longmans, Green, page 36

Examples of only trotting after in a sentence

  • Three hundred and ninety-two builders bankrupt last year, with the company promoters only trotting after us with one hundred and sixty-five!1967, Patrick Campbell, “Build Up to Bankruptcy”, in A Bunch of New Roses, Anthony Blond, page 201:
  • The lark in the clear air is only trotting after him.'1976, Christy Brown, Wild Grow The Lilies, New York: Stein and Day, →ISBN, page 301:
  • It was clear to me from listening to them that Sodom and Gomorrah were only trotting after the goings-on in Listowel.2006, Gerry O'Carroll, The Sheriff: A Detective's Story, Edinburgh: Mainstream, →ISBN, pages 39-40:
  • “He set the standard for all of us and we’re only trotting after him,” O’Connor told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.2025 April 3, Mary Hannigan, quoting Jack O'Connor, “Mick O’Dwyer tributes: ‘He set the standard for all of us and we’re only trotting...

Questions about only trotting after

What does only trotting after mean?
Only trotting after means far behind, below, inferior to; possessing a quality to a far lesser extent than.
How do you use only trotting after in a sentence?
Three hundred and ninety-two builders bankrupt last year, with the company promoters only trotting after us with one hundred and sixty-five!
What part of speech is only trotting after?
Only trotting after is a preposition.

Words near only trotting after in the dictionary

  1. only son
  2. only sons
  3. only the good die young
  4. only time will tell
  5. only too
  6. only trotting after
  7. only-begotten
  8. onlyborn
  9. onlyborns
  10. onlyer
  11. onlyers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: only trotting after (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “only trotting after.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/only_trotting_after. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.