Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a walk, a journey.

1827		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 8 Apr. 917/1: The mill [...] is fixed for Tuesday next. The battle money is 100l. aside: A long trot for the Fancy is the whisper; and good prads will be required to perform the journey comfortably.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 50/2: Trot (Com. Lond., 1875). A walk – probably suggested by the ordinary quick movement of most young Englishmen.
1935		C. Drew ‘Thirsty’s Christmas Box’ in Bulletin 25 Dec. 41/1: ‘I think I’ll take a trot up to the hazard school’.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 2: I would not mind if it was a longer trot on days like this.

2. a child just learning to walk or run.

1854		Thackeray Newcomes I 100: Ethel romped with the little children – the rosy little trots – and took them on her knees.
1897		‘Ouida’ Massarenes 10: She must not keep this bonbonniere; the contents are more than enough for a careless little trot who knocks people about with her balloon [F&H].

3. a promenade, made for social purposes to show oneself, meet friends, etc.

1882

Bristol Magpie 27 July 6/1: [T]he many elegancies, who daily ‘do’ the Queen's Road ‘crawl,’ Park Street ‘trot,’ and Clare Street ‘toddle ’.

4. a baby animal.

1895

J. Skelton Table-Talk iv 72: Black, hairy little trots (about the size of a moderate-sized mouse), with their big bills and their big feet .

5. (Aus.) a sequence of consecutive events, a run of good or bad luck; thus phrs. good/bad/lean/tough trot.

1895		Truth (Sydney) 26 May 6/1: Believers in ‘trots’ will notice that this Canterbury affair came directly after Paddy Nolan’s accident, the same as Martin Burke’s death followed Corrigan’s.
1911		L. Stone Jonah 217: The gaffers realised that a trot of heads was coming, and the boxer had to offer twelve to ten to cover Chook’s stake.
1918		letter 7 July from France in Dubbo Liberal (NSW) 1 Oct. 2/7: We are getting a rough trot — all stoush.
1920		Western Argus (Kalgoorlie, WA) 15 June 1/4: In the national game of two-up the spinner [...] ‘does a trot’ (heads the two pennies a number of times).
1946		Mirror (Perth) 29 June 13/4: Rose [...] said her hubby gave her a rough trot during the later years of domesticity.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 29: Never seem to get the right trot, Max. Whenever I go for the big dish the horse I back gets beaten a skull.
1952		J. Cleary Sundowners 71: ‘Looks pretty crook,’ Paddy said. ‘You been having a bad trot?’ ‘Terrible.’.
1956		Argus (Melbourne) 13 June 22/4: We’ve had a rough trot in this test [match].
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 71: Bad trot — never won a race for years.
1974		J. McNeill How Does Your Garden Grow 84: ‘I have had a rough trot, sir, all me miserable life, sir’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 115/1: trot luck, usually in ‘bad trot’ or ‘good trot’, mostly sport use; probably from two-up game, where a trot is a sequence of heads.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 12: My poor old mum had such a bad trot.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 176: run/trot, a bad/lean/rough or good Period of misfortune or good fortune, often a bad trot but a good run. From a trot sequence of two heads in the game of two-up, with more words for a bad run/ trot indicative of the game’s usual outcome. ANZ.

6. an escape (from prison).

1956

J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 28: Of course, there’s some geezers fancies the mist. Reckons it’s a bit handyish for a trot.