traipse

or trapes

[treyps]Informal.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR traipse ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), traipsed, traips·ing.

to walk or go aimlessly or idly or without finding or reaching one's goal: We traipsed all over town looking for a copy of the book.

verb (used with object), traipsed, traips·ing.

to walk over; tramp: to traipse the fields.

noun

a tiring walk.

Origin of traipse

1585–95; earlier trapse, unexplained variant of trape, obscurely akin to tramp

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for traipse

trudge, strut, plod, lumber, prance, roam, meander, amble, wander, stroll, traverse, march, parade, pace, hike, tour, promenade, stride, step, troop

Examples from the Web for traipse

Contemporary Examples of traipse

Buy a pair of these and traipse around a big city center or off road through the Icelandic countryside.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Anthony Bourdain in Your Life
Allison McNearney
November 29, 2014
Get your own tailored tuxedo blazer to traipse around town in.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Carrie Bradshaw in Your Life
Allison McNearney
November 29, 2014
Its massive platform gives city dwellers the opportunity to traipse around with relatively painless added height.
Jeffrey Campbell ‘Lita’ Bootie is The World’s Ugliest Shoe
Misty White Sidell
April 2, 2013
We imagine the cadre of Hollywood starlets who like to traipse about commando would be severely handicapped in this event.
7 Craziest Guinness Records
The Daily Beast Video
November 13, 2009

Historical Examples of traipse

"Or why she consents to traipse all over the country with you," laughed Ted.
Ted Strong in Montana
Edward C. Taylor
I don't mean she's got enough to traipse round with duchesses and earls and that sort, but she's got enough.
By the Light of the Soul
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
She called me up twice yesterday to see they needed it, as if I had nothin' to do but traipse aroun' after her.
Mary Rose of Mifflin
Frances R. Sterrett
And what's more, you just don't need to traipse along another step with me now.
Bob Hampton of Placer
Randall Parrish
Hard luck on me having to traipse at this time of night to a place I don't know to get orders you ought to have sent out.
Pushed and the Return Push
George Herbert Fosdike Nichols, (AKA Quex)

British Dictionary definitions for traipse

traipse

trapes

informal

verb

(intr) to walk heavily or tiredly

noun

a long or tiring walk; trudge

Word Origin for traipse

C16: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for traipse

1590s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from dialectal French trepasser "pass over or beyond," from Old French trespasser (see trespass). Or from a source related to Middle Dutch trappen, dialectal Norwegian trappa "to tread, stamp" (see trap). Liberman points out that it resembles German traben "tramp" "and other similar verbs meaning 'tramp; wander; flee' in several European languages. They seem to have been part of soldiers' and vagabonds' slang between 1400 and 1700. In all likelihood, they originated as onomatopoeias and spread to neighboring languages from Low German." Related: Traipsed; traipsing.