[trahy-pod] 
| 1. | a stool, table, pedestal, etc., with three legs. |
| 2. | a three-legged stand or support, as for a camera or telescope. |
| 3. | the oracular seat of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi. |
| tri·pod (trī'pŏd') n.
[Latin tripūs, tripod-, from Greek tripous, three-footed : tri-, tri- + pous, foot; see -pod.] trip'o·dal (trĭp'ə-dl, trī'pŏd'l) adj. |
tripod
any piece of furniture with three legs. The word can apply to a wide range of objects, including stools, tables, light stands, and pedestals. The tripod was very popular in ancient and classical times, largely because it was associated with religious or symbolic rites in the form of an altar, a sacrificial basin, or the most celebrated tripod of all, the seat at Delphi upon which the Pythian priestess sat to deliver the oracles of the god Apollo. Underlying the tripod's association with such rites was perhaps a mystical significance attached to the number three. The idea of three being united in one could very well have influenced the widespread use of the tripod in Christian liturgical furniture such as candlesticks.
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