Nearby Words

Triplets

[trip-lit] Origin

tri·plet

[trip-lit]
noun
1.
one of three children or offspring born at the same birth.
2.
triplets, three offspring born at one birth.
3.
any group or combination of three.
4.
Prosody. three successive verses or lines, especially when rhyming and of the same length; a stanza of three lines.
5.
Also called tercet. Music. a group of three notes to be performed in the time of two ordinary notes of the same kind.
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6.
an assembled imitation gem with three parts, the center one giving the color, the top and bottom, sometimes genuine, supplying the wearing qualities.
7.
Genetics. a sequence of three nucleotides; a codon in messenger RNA and an anticodon in transfer RNA.
8.
Optics. a compound lens in which three lenses are combined.
9.
triplets, (in some card games) three cards of the same denomination.
COLLAPSE

Origin:
1650–60; triple + -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Triplets is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

triplet
1656, "three successive lines of poetry," from triple; perhaps patterned on doublet. Extended to a set of three of anything in 1733, and to three children at the same birth in 1787 (another word for this was trin, 1831, on the model of twin). Musical
EXPAND
meaning "three notes played in the time of two" is from 1801.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

triplet trip·let (trĭp'lĭt)
n.

  1. Any of three children delivered at the same birth.

  2. A set of three similar objects, such as a compound lens in a microscope formed of three planoconvex lenses.

  3. A unit of three successive nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule that codes for a specific amino acid; a codon or anticodon.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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