trickle

plural trickles

1. A very thin river.

   The brook had shrunk to a mere trickle.

2. A very thin flow; the sound of such a flow.

   The tap of the washbasin in my bedroom is leaking and the trickle drives me mad at night.

   1 more example

   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.

   1897, James Bryce, Impressions of South Africa

present singular third person trickles · participle present trickling · participle past trickled · past trickled

1. transitiveto pour a liquid in a very thin stream, or so that drops fall continuously.

   The doctor trickled some iodine on the wound.

2. intransitiveto flow in a very thin stream or drop continuously.

   Here the water just trickles along, but later it becomes a torrent.

   3 more examples

   The film was so bad that people trickled out of the cinema before its end.

   Her white night-dress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare chest which was shown by his torn-open dress.

   1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC

   The period of intensive traffic is over by about 5.30 p.m. and for the rest of the evening steadily diminishes, the main activity being the Channel Islands boat trains which trickle in after about 6.30 p.m. and depart again for Weymouth an hour or so later.

   1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 265

3. intransitiveTo move or roll slowly.

   Their only shot of the first period was a long-range strike from top-scorer Ebanks-Blake which trickled tamely wide.

   2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 03 Feb 2025

   2 more examples

   Some [marbles] were found in a child's grave at Nagada, Egypt […] together with a set of ninepins and three rectangular bricks which could have formed an arch through which to trickle the balls.

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 32

   They gather one by one, trickling into the shady courtyard, the familiar hum of Mass. Ave. wafting in from behind brick buildings and iron gates.

   2005 June 9, Michael M. Grynbaum, “An Entryway That Eats Together Stays Together”, in The Harvard Crimson, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2025