✂️ To cut neatly ✂️ A neat cut 🪡 A decoration 🎀 To decorate ✈️ Flight balance ✈️ To balance 🧍 Neat or slim 💾 To erase data

to trim

8 7.3

To adjust controls so a plane or boat moves steadily

verb
/trɪm/

Specialized

: ajustar

The engineer advised the team to trim the weight distribution in the cargo hold for better balance.

Examples

Before taking off, the pilot needs to trim the aircraft for optimal performance during flight.
We'll have to trim the boat.

A Night to Remember (1958)
I wanna trim the sail.

Wild Things (1998)
Lassen, trim the main sail and then tie it off!

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)
Hail the mizzen and trim the mainsail.

Wesley (2009)
Men she assumed were ship's crew stood in the yardarm hauling on lines to trim the sail.

Fiction book (1999)
Trim that jib!

Young Hercules (1998)
Trim your forward ballast.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
TRIM THAT SAIL!

The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957)
To improve stability, the crew decided to trim the ship's sails according to the wind direction.

Phrasal Verbs

to trim down

3 3.4

To make something smaller by cutting or removing parts

to trim back

1 3.4

Make a thing smaller by cutting or removing parts

Compounds

fighting trim

Informal

1 7.5

In very good condition and ready for action

How Balanced

equilibrium

35 6.8

stability

363 3.1

to trim

Specialized

8 7.3

list

30 9.1

instability

114 5.1

Surface Forms

trim infinitive

trimmed past

trimmed past participle

trimming present participle

trims third person singular

Etymology

The verb trim for adjusting a plane or ship comes from sailors who 'trimmed' sails to make the boat steady and fast, from old Norse trimma 'to prepare'. That's why to trim an aircraft is to set controls so it balances and flies well.