tripod 
Prophetic Tripod of the Delphian Apollo. From a Greek red-fig- 
ured hydria, in the Vatican. 
compass, camera, or other instrument. See 
cuts under rock-drill and transit. 4. In anat. 
and zool.. a tripodal formation ; a three-pronged 
or triradiate structure, as a bone. The pre- 
maxillary bone of birds is a tripod Tripod of 
life, or vital tripod, the brain, the lungs, and the heart, 
upon the continuous and consentaneous action of which 
life rests as on a triple support. 
tripodal (trip'o-dal), a. [< tripod + -al.~\ Hav- 
ing or forming three feet, in any sense ; mak- 
ing a tripod : as, a tripodal base of support ; a 
tripodal bone. 
tripodic (tri-pod'ik), a. [<. tripod + -ic.] Three- 
footed. [Rare.] 
I have observed this tripodic walk in earwigs, water 
scorpions, aphides, and some beetles. 
Kature, XLIII. 223. 
tripod-jack (tri'pod-jak), . A screw-jack 
mounted on three legs connected to a common 
base-plate to give them a sufficient bearing. 
E. H. Knight. 
tripody (trip'o-di), .; pi. tripodies (-diz). [< 
Gr. rpmoSia, < rpnron; (rpmoi-), having three 
feet: see tripod.] In pros., a group of three 
feet. Amer. Jour. Philol, X. 225. 
trlpointed (tri-poin'ted), a. [< tri- + point 1 + 
-d 2 .] Having three points. [Rare.] 
For, how (alas !), how will you make defence 
'Gainst the In-pointed wrathfull violence 
Ofthedraddart? 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Lawe. 
tripoli (trip'o-li), n. [So called from Tripoli in 
Africa, < Gr. Tp'mohif, a district containing three 
cities: see Tripolitan.] A substance consisting 
of decomposed impure limestone, extensively 
used as a polishing-powder : same as rottenstone. 
The name tripoli is also frequently given to any kind of 
silicious material which can be used for the same purpose 
as the real article of that name, and especially to infusorial 
silica. Also tripoly and tripel. 
tripoline 1 (trip'o-lin), o. [< tripoli + -i-ne 1 .'] Of 
or pertaining to tripoli. 
Tripoline 2 (trip'o-lin), a. [< Tripoli (see def.) 
+ -t'nei.] Pertaining to Tripoli or Tripolis, (a) 
a Turkish vilayet on the northern coast of Af- 
rica, or (6) the capital of this vilayet, or (c) a 
city of Phenicia. 
Tripoli senna. See senna. 
Tripolitan (tri-pol'i-tan), a. and . [= F. tri- 
politain, < L. Tripoliianus, of or pertaining to 
Tripolis, < Gr. TpiiroAif, Tripolis (various dis- 
tricts were so called), lit. 'three cities,' < rpcif 
(rpi-), three, + x6'Atf, city.] I. a. Relating or 
belonging to Tripoli. 
II. n. A native of Tripoli. 
tripqlite (trip'p-lit), n. [< Tripoli (see tripoli) 
+ -ite.~\ In mineral., silicious infusorial earth ; 
tripoli. 
tripoly, n. See tripoli. 
tripos (tri'pos), n. [An erroneous form, appar. 
simulating the common ending -os of Gr. words, 
of tripus, < L. tripus (tripus), < Gr. rpiirovf (rpi- 
m><5-), a three-footed stool, etc.: see tripod.'] 1. 
A tripod. 
Crazed fool, who would'st be thought an oracle, 
Come down from off the tripos, and speak plain. 
Dryden, Don Sebastian, v. 1. 
6488 
departments specified in the quotation; also, 
the honor examination itself in any of these 
departments. In the mathematical tripos the three 
grades of the first part of the examination are respectively 
wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes; in the other 
triposes, and in Part II. of the mathematical tripos they 
are first, second, and third classes. 
The strange genealogy of the Cambridge term Tripos, 
as equivalent to "Honour Examination," is traced by Mr. 
Christopher Wordsworth, in "Social Life in the English 
Universities in the Eighteenth Century," as follows: 1. 
The B. A. who sits on a three-legged stool to dispute with 
the "Father" in the Philosophy School on Ash Wednes- 
day, was called Mr. Tripott, from that on which he sat. 2. 
The satirical speech made by him was called the Tripos 
speech ; and 3. His humorous verses, distributed by the 
bedells, were called Tripos verses. 4. His office became 
obsolete in the last century ; and similar verses being still 
circulated by authority, each sheet of verses was called a 
Tripos or "Tripos Paper." 5. On the back of each sheet, 
after the year 1748, a list of "Wranglers" and "Senior 
Optimes " or of "Junior Optimes " was published. These 
lists were called the "Triposes" or first and second "Tri- 
pos lists " respectively. 6. The Mathematical Examina- 
tion, whose interest centred in the list, was called the 
Tripos. 7. When other Honour Examinations were insti- 
tuted, they were distinguished as the "Classical Tripos," 
etc., from the "Mathematical Tripos." There are now 
nine Triposes, . . . founded in the following order: Math- 
ematical, Classical, Moral Sciences, Natural Sciences, The- 
ological, Law, History, Semitic [Languages,] and Indian 
Languages. [There has also been a Medieval and Modern 
Languages Tripos from 1886.] 
Dickens's Diet. Cambridge, p. 124. 
trippant (trip'ant), a. [< trip 1 + -ant.'} In her., 
represented as walking or trotting, having 
usually one of the fore hoofs 
lifted and the other three on the 
ground : said of one of the beasts 
of chase, as the antelope or the 
hart. Also tripping. 
The arms on the bishop's tomb were 
Or, on a chevron vert between three 
bucks trippant proper as many cinque 
foils of the field, etc. stag Trippant. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., XI. 115. 
trippant-counter (trip'ant-koun"ter), o. In 
her., same as counter-trippant. 
trippet, An obsolete form of trip 1 , trip 2 . 
tripper (trip'er), n. [< trip 1 + -er 1 .'] 1. One 
who trips or moves nimbly; also, one who 
stumbles, or who causes another to do so. 2. 
An excursionist ; a tourist. [Colloq.] 
There are two men in her, and they've got no oars in the 
boat. Ignorant trippers, I suppose. 
Walter Besant, Armorcl of Lyonesse, ii. 
The dialect is dying out in Manx before the inroads of 
the tripper. The Academy, Jan. 4, 1890, p. 3. 
3. A street-railroad conductor or driver who 
is paid according to the number of trips which 
he makes, or who is employed to make special 
trips, as in the place of others who are laid off 
for any cause. [U. S.] 4. In maeli., a part 
which causes another part to be suddenly re- 
leased, or to trip Land-tripper, the common sand- 
piper, TringcM.fi hypoleueus. [Local, Eng.] 
trippet 1 (trip'et), n. [< trip 1 + -el.} 1. A hard 
ball used in the game of trip. Halliirell. [Prov. 
Eng.] 2. In mach., any projecting part de- 
signed to strike some other part at regular in- 
tervals, as a cam, lifter, toe. wiper, or foot. 
E. H. Knight. 
trippet 2 (trip'et), n. [<trip2 (? ) + -et.'] A quar- 
ter of a pound. Halliwell, [Prov. Eng.] 
tripping (trip'ing), n. [Verbal n. of trip 1 , v.~\ 
1. The act of one who trips. 2. Alightdance. 
Here be, without duck or nod, 
Other trippings to be trod 
Of lighter toes. Milton, Comus, 1. 961. 
3. Naut., the act of loosening the anchor from 
the ground. 
tripping (trip'ing), p. a. [Ppr. of trip 1 , ?;.] 1. 
Quick ; nimble ; stepping quickly and lightly. 
2. In her., same as trippant. 
tripping-line (trip'ing-lin), n. Naut., a small 
line attached to the snotter of a topgallant- or 
royal-yard , by which the lower lift and brace are 
unrigged from the yard-arm and the yard guided 
to the deck. Sometimes called fancy-line. 
trippingly (trip'ing-li). adv. In a tripping man- 
ner; with a light, nimble, quick step or move- 
ment ; with agility ; nimbly. 
Sing, and dance it trippingly. Shak., M. N. D., v. 1. 403. 
Speak the speech . . . trippingly on the tongne. 
'Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 2. 
trippingness (trip'ing-nes), n. The quality of 
being tripping; lightness and quickness; nirn- 
bleness. 
I, Gama-grass (Tripsacum etai- 
tyloides); 2, the spikes: 3, lower 
part of the spikes, showing male 
and female spikelets; a, a male 
spikelet ; *, a female spikelet. 
The frieze [of the temple of Melasso] is adorned with ' 
triposes, bulls heads, and pateras: the cornish and the The basso could not forgive the soprano for the Iripiriwj- 
pediments at each end are very richly ornamented with ness of her execution. The Atlantic, LXVI. 765. 
pediments at each end are very richly ornamented with 
carvings. Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 61. 
2. In Cambridge University, England, the list 
of the successful candidates for honors in the 
tripping-valve (trip'ing-valv), n. A valve oper- 
ated by the impact of some other part of the 
machinery. 
tripudiate 
Tripsacum (trip'sa-kum), n. [XL. (Linnssus, 
1763); origin obscure.] A genus of grasses, 
of the tribe Maydese. 
It is characterized by 
peduncled androgynous 
spikes with two-flowered 
male spikelets above and 
one-flowered fertile spike- 
lets below, the latter em- 
bedded in each joint of the 
rachis, and there tilling a 
cavity which is closed by 
the polished and indurated 
outer glume. There are 2 
or 3 species, natives of 
warm parts of America, ex- 
tending from Brazil into 
the United States. They 
are tall robust grasses, 
with long leaves resem- 
bling those of Indian corn. 
T. dactyloides, known as 
l/ama-grasx (which see), 
one of the largest grasses 
of the United States, is an 
ornamental reed-like per- 
ennial reaching from 4 to 7 
feet high, occurring from 
Connecticut to Floridanear 
the coast, and from Illi- 
nois southward, where it 
is used for fodder, and its 
seeds are said to have been 
found available for food. 
It has also been called buffalo-grass and sesame-grass. 
trip-shaft (trip'shaft), n. A supplementary 
rock-shaft used for starting an engine. E. H. 
Knight. 
tripsis (trip'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. rpiijtif, rubbing 
friction, < rpifctv, rub. wear away by rubbing.] 
1. The act of reducing a substance to powder; 
trituration. 2. In med., the process of sham- 
pooing. See shampoo. 
trip-skin (trip'skin), n. 1. A piece of leather 
worn on the right-hand side of the petticoat 
by spinners with the rock, on which the spin- 
dle plays, and the yarn is pressed by the hand 
of the spinner. Forby. (Halliwell.) 2. The 
skinny part of roasted meat, which before the 
whole can be dressed becomes tough and dry, 
like the piece of leather formerly worn by spin- 
ning-women. Forby. (Halliwell.) [Prov. Eng.] 
trip-slip (trip'slip), n. A slip of paper in which 
the conductor of a horse-car punches a hole as 
record of each fare taken. [U. S.] 
tripterous (trip'te-rus), a. [< Gr. rpelc; (rpi-), 
three, + Trrc/jov, wing.] In bot., three-winged; 
having three wings or wing-like expansions. 
triptict, tripticht, n. See triptych. 
triptote (trip'tot), n. [= F. triptote, < LL. Irip- 
totum (sc. nomen), a noun with only three cases, 
neut. of triptotim, < Gr. TpmruTof, with only 
three cases, < Tpeif (rpi-), three, + trruoif, inflec- 
tion, case, < iriirretv, fall.] In gram., a noun 
having three cases only. 
triptych (trip'tik), . [Formerly also, errone- 
ously, triptich, triptic; also tnjptychon; < Gr. 
Tpiirrv^ov, neut. of Tpiirrvxoc, consisting of three 
layers, threefold, < rpelf (rpt-), three, + Trrdf 
(KTVX-), KTVXJJ, a fold, < irrivofiv, fold, double 
up.] 1. A picture, carving, or other repre- 
sentation in three compartments side by side: 
most frequently used for an altar-piece. The 
central picture is usually complete in itself. The subsid- 
iary designs on either side of it are smaller, and frequently 
correspond in size and shape to one half of the principal 
picture, to which they are joined by hinges so that they 
can be folded over and form a cover to it. The outsides 
of the folding parts or shutters have sometimes designs 
painted on them. 
The Mantegna triptych, from which the detail of "The 
Circumcision " is taken, is in the tribune of the Ufflzi, 
Florence, and is composed of The Adoration of the Magi, 
The Circumcision, and The Ascension. 
Ttie Century, XXXIX. 400. 
2. A series of writing-tablets, three in number, 
hinged or tied together. When used for spreading 
with wax, and writing with the stylus, the outer leaves 
were recessed for the wax on the inside only, the middle 
leaf on both sides. These are made of fir-wood, beech- 
wood, baked clay, ivory, and other material. 
These triptych* . . . were libelli of three tablets of wood, 
cleft from one piece and fastened together, like the leaves 
of a book, by strings passed through two holes pierced 
near the edge. Encye. Brit., XVIII. 164. 
triptychon (trip'ti-kon), n. Same as triptych. 
tripudiary (tri-pu'di-a-ri), a. [< L. tripudium, 
a leaping or dancing, a religious dance (see tri- 
pudiate), + -ary.'] 1. Of or pertaining to dan- 
cing ; performed by dancing. 2. Of or pertain- 
ing to the divination called tripudium. 
Soothsayers in their auguriall and triintdiary divina- 
tions, collecting presages from voice or food of birds. 
Sir T. Browne, Vnlg. Err., i. 4. 
tripudiate (tri-pu'di-at), v. i. ; pret. and pp. 
tripuiliated, ppr. tripudiating. [< L. tripndia- 
tiis, pp. of trlpndiare, OL. tripodare, leap, dance, 
