▪ I. triplicate, a. and n.
(ˈtrɪplɪkət)
[ad. L. triplicāt-us, pa. pple. of triplicāre (rare) to triple.]
A. adj. Threefold, triple; forming three exactly corresponding copies; consisting of or related to three corresponding parts.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 239 A triplicate honor was ȝiffen to a kynge..hauenge victory, in his commenge to the cite of Rome. 1512 Act. 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 §10 One parte of the seid Writyng triplicate to be indented shall remayne with the seid Commissioners. 1528 in Burnet Hist. Ref. (1679) I. Records ii. iv. 25 Certain Expeditions Triplicat; the one unto the Prothonotar Gambora, the other unto Gregory de Cassali, and the third unto me. 1756 Gentl. Mag. Oct. 461/1 It was always customary to make double and triplicate bills of loading. 1862 Beveridge Hist. India III. viii. iii. 333 The conclusion of a triplicate treaty by the British government, the Maharajah, and Shah Shujah-ul-Moolk. 1902 W. M. Alexander Demonic Possession N.T. iii. 61 There are..duplicate or triplicate narratives of these three cases. |
b. triplicate proportion, triplicate ratio: the proportion or ratio of cubes (third powers) in relation to that of the radical quantities.
| 1660 Barrow Euclid v. Def. x, When 4 magnitudes A, B, C, D are proportional, the first A shall have a triplicate ratio to the fourth D of what it had to the second B. 1674 Petty Disc. Dupl. Proportion 44 Like pieces of Timber, that are in cubical or triplicate proportion of their Sides, are strong but according to duplicate proportion, or the Squares of their respective Sides. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 45 The Gravity of Bodies decreases in a Triplicate, but their Surface in a Duplicate Proportion of their Diameters. 1806 Hutton Course Math. (1810) I. 314 The Ratio of the First [quantity] to the Third, will be duplicate or the Square of the Ratio of the First and Second; and the Ratio of the First and Fourth will be triplicate or the cube of that of the First and Second; and so on. |
c. triplicate quartan (ague) = triple quartan (triple a. 5).
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 613 Quartanus triplicatus. Triplicate quartan. |
d. In combination, as triplicate-ternate (Bot.) = triternate.
| 1847 in Webster. 1900 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, Triplicate-ternate, triternate (Crozier). |
B. n.
1. One of three things exactly alike, esp. one of three copies of a document; pl. three things exactly alike.
| 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 23 note, There are three portraits of himself,..and three triplicates of his mistress. 1801 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) I. 284, I have the honour to enclose the triplicate of a letter to the Governor of Bombay. 1835 Batman in Cornwallis New World (1859) I. 410, I busied myself in drawing up triplicates of the deeds of the land I had purchased. 1859 Tennent Ceylon II. vii. v. 200 Not only a duplicate, but a triplicate of the desecrated relic were regarded with undiminished adoration both in Pegu and Ceylon. |
b. in triplicate: in three exactly corresponding copies or transcripts. Also transf.
| 1810 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VI. 170 Desire Captain Eliott to send his account of the expenditure in Triplicate. 1860 Hook Lives Abps. II. vii. 412 The constitutions were written in triplicate. 1894 Times 7 Aug. 6/2 Many of the trains..were run in duplicate and triplicate. |
† 2. Triplicate ratio; third power, cube. Obs. rare.
| 1767 Murdoch in Phil. Trans. LVIII. 28 The accelerative force of A..will be increased in the triplicate of that ratio. |
▪ II. triplicate, v.
(ˈtrɪplɪkeɪt)
[f. L. triplicāt-, ppl. stem of triplicāre (see prec.), f. triplex, triple.]
1. trans. To multiply by three; to increase threefold; to triple.
| 1623 Cockeram, Triplicate, to triple, or doe a thing three times. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. x. lxi, Could'st thou engross Cathaiahs Gems And more than triplicate Romes triple diadems. 1717 B. Taylor in Phil. Trans. XXX. 614 This Formula will also triplicate the number of true Figures in Z. 1871 Daily News 19 Jan., They have thus triplicated the defences of a tract they had judged to be exposed. |
2. To make or provide in triplicate; to make the triplicate of; to repeat a second time.
| 1639 R. Gentilis Servita's Inquis. (1676) 851 They might..reply, and triplicate the same request with greater instance. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 249 Such a person usually reiterates and triplicates his words, to little purpose. 1879 G. Meredith Egoist xxxvi, We are in danger of duplicating [wedding-presents] and triplicating and quadruplicating. |
Hence ˈtriplicating ppl. a.
| 1906 Hibbert Jrnl. Apr. 598 Hegel's argument was a kind of trinity: i.e. it moved in a triplicating way,—thesis, antithesis and synthesis. |