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traipse

or trapes

[treyps]Informal.
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verb (used without object), traipsed, traips·ing.
  1. 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.
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verb (used with object), traipsed, traips·ing.
  1. to walk over; tramp: to traipse the fields.
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noun
  1. a tiring walk.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for traipsing

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • After traipsing about in the fog they found the grave sure enough.

    Ulysses

    James Joyce

  • All the rest of it traipsing about from place to place like a wandering gipsy.

    The Man Who Was Good

    Leonard Merrick

  • "I don't see what you want to be traipsing about after dark for," said Marilla shortly.

    Anne Of Green Gables

    Lucy Maud Montgomery

  • Nice clothes I shall get, too, traipsing through weather like this.

    Eighth Reader

    James Baldwin

  • Could they have wandered up the hill road,—the discontented, "traipsing," exasperating things?

    The Village Watch-Tower

    (AKA Kate Douglas Riggs) Kate Douglas Wiggin

British Dictionary definitions for traipsing

traipse

trapes

informal
verb
  1. (intr) to walk heavily or tiredly
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noun
  1. a long or tiring walk; trudge
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Word Origin

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 traipsing

traipse

v.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper