trip the light fantastic toe
trip the light fantastic toe is the obsolete form of trip the light fantastic.
Meaning of trip the light fantastic
Verb
trip the light fantastic (third-person singular simple present trips the light fantastic, present participle tripping the light fantastic, simple past and past participle tripped the light fantastic)
- To dance or to move rhythmically to musical accompaniment, especially in a graceful or nimble manner.
- On board the steamer, which accompanied the yachts all through the race, the majority passed their time pleasantly in paying homage to Terpsichore; though there was not much room for dancing, a goodly array continued to trip the light fantastic.1856 December 1, The Empire, Sydney, page 5, column 2
Forms of trip the light fantastic toe
| third-person singular present | trips the light fantastic toe |
|---|---|
| present participle | tripping the light fantastic toe |
| past participle | tripped the light fantastic toe |
| past | tripped the light fantastic toe |
Origin of trip the light fantastic toe
From John Milton's 1645 lyric poem L’Allegro, specifically the lines: "Com, and trip it as ye go / On the light fantastick toe."
Questions about trip the light fantastic toe
- What is trip the light fantastic toe the obsolete form of?
- Trip the light fantastic toe is the obsolete form of trip the light fantastic.
Words near trip the light fantastic toe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: trip the light fantastic toe (page history and authors); trip the light fantastic (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: “trip the light fantastic toe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trip_the_light_fantastic_toe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.