trilogy
(ˈtrɪlədʒɪ)
[ad. Gr. τριλογία (see def. 1), f. τρι- tri- + λόγος discourse: see -logy. Cf. F. trilogie.]
1. Gr. Antiq. A series of three tragedies (originally connected in subject), performed at Athens at the festival of Dionysus.
| 1836 Thirlwall Greece III. xviii. 73 A trilogy, which comprised three distinct tragedies. 1842 Brande Dict. Sc. etc., s.v., All the plays of æschylus, and the Henry VI of Shakspeare, are examples of a trilogy. 1850 Grote Greece ii. lxvii. (1862) VI. 25 To three serious dramas or a trilogy..the tragic poet added a fourth or satyrical drama. |
2. Any series or group of three related dramatic or other literary works.
| 1661 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 2), Trilogie,..a speaking or writing in three parts. 1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. p. cxxvi, That immortal Trilogy of Plato, which has been embalmed by the tears of all ages. 1841 Trench Parables xxii. (1877) 376 These parables are thus a trilogy. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 679 The other great Platonic trilogy of the Sophist, Statesman, Philosopher. 1877 Dowden Shaks. Prim. vi. 90 The trilogy consisting of I and II Henry IV and Henry V. |
3. transf. and fig. A group of three related utterances, sayings, subjects, etc.
| 1835 T. Mitchell Aristoph., Acharn. 249 note, What Theophrastus evidently intended for a trilogy of characters,..each rising above the other in want of shame and an absence of decency. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. i. v, Thus they three, in wondrous trilogy, or triple soliloquy. 1879 Farrar St. Paul I. 581 note, His fundamental trilogy of Christian virtues—faith, hope, love. |