triptych
(ˈtrɪptɪk)
Also triptic.
[f. tri- after diptych; cf. Gr. τρίπτυχος consisting of three layers, and It. triptica, F. triptyque (Littré).]
1. a. Antiq. A set of three writing-tablets hinged or tied together. b. A card made to fold in three divisions. Also attrib.
| 1731 Gale in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 161 The Diptychs and Triptychs that were covered with Wax, served only for common Occurrences. 1885 E. M. Thompson in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 154/1 These triptychs then 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. Mod. Advt., Confirmation Triptych. A small-folding Triptych Certificate Card. |
2. A picture or carving (or set of three such) in three compartments side by side, the lateral ones being usually subordinate, and hinged so as to fold over the central one; chiefly used as an altar-piece.
| [1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 227 In a tabernacle or triptica by Niccolo Frumenti, the central compartment represents the raising of Lazarus.] 1849 Curzon Visits Monast. 366 The most valuable reliquary of St. Laura is a kind of triptic. 1852 A. Jameson Leg. Madonna Introd. (1857) 53 A Triptych is an altar-piece in three parts. 1896 Church Times 14 Aug. 154 There is no east window, but above the altar is an exquisite triptych. |
3. transf. a. A set of three operas or pieces of music intended to be performed together.
| 1925 R. A. Streatfeild Opera (ed. 5) xiii. 304 Puccini's last work is a so-called ‘triptych’, consisting of three one-act operas. 1928 Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 3) IV. 283/2 In this triptych the composer's technique is more elaborate than in ‘Butterfly’. 1959 Listener 31 Dec. 1176/3 Any music that makes a strong visual suggestion like the Debussy orchestral triptychs. 1976 New Yorker 1 Mar. 90/1 This season, the triptych has been reassembled: a new ‘Tabarro’ and ‘Suor Angelica’ join the 1974 staging of ‘Gianni Schicchi’. 1976 Gramophone Sept. 424/2 Ormandy's version (which offers 24 minutes' extra music in the form of Feste romane, the still more luridly coloured third leaf of the triptych) will do very nicely. |
b. Cinemat. A sequence of film designed to be shown on a triple screen, using linked projectors.
| 1976 Oxf. Compan. Film 494/2 After the first presentation it [sc. Napoléon] was released in a truncated version from which the triptych sequences had been removed: Gance, disappointed by the poor reception, destroyed much of the original footage, including some of the triptych. 1980 Times 5 Dec. 11/5 The great triptych—Gance called it Polyvision—in no respect falls short... From the breath-catching moment when the screen is suddenly multiplied to reveal a great panorama of the Grand Army on the Alps, Gance's use of the triptych is light years in advance of anything three-projector Cinerama ever achieved. Ibid., Sometimes the triptych image is a continuous panorama; sometimes it is split into different images. There are superimpositions and mirror images, the whole orchestrated with passion. |
So in Fr. form ‖ triptyque (triptik), applied to a threefold card used as an international passport by associations of motorists.
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 21 Jan. 4/2 The triptyque, or special card which opens the doors to half-a-dozen countries, and relieves its holder of much bewildering formula when touring abroad. 1909 Daily Chron. 9 July 8/3 The adoption of the triptyque, or international passport, for balloons and aeroplanes such as is now in use for motor-cars. |