triple
Verbtriples, tripling, tripled
Noun pluraltriples (some meanings)
Formstriples, tripling, tripled
Pluraltriples (some meanings)
- 1To multiply a number or amount by three, making it three times as great.
The new owners plan to triple production at the plant by next year.
Triple the result, then subtract four to get the final answer.
Similartreble
Note
The verb takes an object when it is arithmetic done to something: a company triples its earnings, a plant its output, a pupil a number. Without an object it reports growth instead, as in growing threefold: earnings have tripled. The two uses share every form, so only the object tells them apart.
- 2To grow to three times the previous size or amount.
Experts expect demand for the vaccine to triple by winter.
Home values in the neighborhood tripled over the decade.
Similartreble
- 3Made up of three related parts, which often match one another.
The cathedral's west front is framed by a triple arch of carved stone.
The necklace has a triple strand of pearls that hang at slightly different lengths.
Similarthreefold, tripartite
- 4Of three times the amount or number; three times as much or as many.
The nurse realized the patient had been given a triple dose of the drug.
Workers who take the holiday shift earn triple wages.
Note
Latin triplus lies behind both this word and treble, its doublet: one Latin word that reached English twice, so the two still share the meaning of three times as much. Middle English also spelled it þripell, with the old letter thorn. Before a noun it measures amounts (a triple dose, triple wages) while counting matched parts is the work of the "three related parts" meaning.
- 5A number, amount, or size three times as great as another.
The painting sold at auction for triple its estimate.
Investors who got in early made back triple their original stake.
Similartreble
- 6In baseball, a hit on which the batter safely reaches third base.
He lined a triple into the right-field corner, driving in two runs.
Fast runners tend to collect more triples than slow power hitters do.
Note
Baseball scorers credit a triple only when the batter reaches third base on the hit itself; if a fielding error lets the runner get there, the hit is scored as a shorter one. Keep it apart from a triple play, a defensive feat in which the fielders record three outs on a single play: one belongs to the batter, the other to the fielding side.
- 7An alcoholic drink made with three measures of liquor.
After the meeting she walked into the bar and asked for a triple.
The bartender poured him a triple without being asked.
- 8To serve or work as something in addition to two other roles or functions.
The town hall doubles as a library and triples as a polling station on election day.
In a tiny apartment, the coffee table may have to double as a desk and triple as a dining table.
Note
This verb is built on double as and usually follows it in the same sentence: a crimper doubles as a wire stripper and triples as a bolt cutter, as Popular Mechanics put it in 1982. The pairing is light, often playful, and suits gadgets and rooms made to do three jobs, such as an office that is also a mini-museum and a minichapel.
- 9Having three distinct aspects.
The poem's title carries a triple meaning, each one darker than the last.
The agency was given a triple mission: to regulate, to inspect, and to educate.
Similarthreefold
- 10Folded into three parts, or made up of three layers.
The knees of the work pants are reinforced with a triple thickness of canvas.
The cabin's triple-pane windows keep the heat in all winter.
- 11Designed for use by three people at a time.
The hostel offers singles, doubles, and triple rooms with three separate beds.
The three friends rented a triple kayak so they could paddle the lake together.
- 12In baseball, to make a hit on which the batter reaches third base safely.
Ramos tripled off the wall in right-center, driving in two runs.
He needed only to triple in his last at-bat to hit for the cycle.
Note
The verb made from the three-base hit usually comes with where the ball went or what the hit did: a batter triples into the gap, off the wall, or down the line, or triples home two runs. It says in one word what hit a triple says in three.
- 13A hamburger made with three patties.
The diner's famous triple comes with bacon, two kinds of cheese, and a fried egg.
After the game, the whole team stopped for triples and milkshakes.
Note
An American word from the burger counter, where the number of patties names the order: a triple with cheese is three patties with cheese. Said across a bar, the same word asks for a drink with three measures, so the setting decides. Outside the US, triple burger is the clearer phrase.
- 14In basketball, a successful field goal worth three points.
He drained a triple from the corner to tie the game with four seconds left.
The guards combined for nine triples, most of them from well beyond the arc.
Note
Basketball judges the shot by where the shooter stands: a basket counts as a triple only when it is released from behind the three-point arc. With a foot on the line, the same shot is worth two points, so a triple is decided by the feet at release, not by distance from the hoop alone.
- 15A sequence of exactly three elements, also called a 3-tuple.
The function returns a triple containing the minimum, the maximum, and the mean of the list.
An RDF database stores its facts as triples of subject, predicate, and object.
Similartriplet
Note
Order matters in a triple: (1, 2, 3) and (3, 2, 1) are different triples, and an element may repeat, as in (2, 2, 5). That is what separates it from a set of three, where order is ignored and repeats collapse into one. It is the three-member case of the general tuple, written in parentheses with commas between the elements.
- 16In cricket, a score of three runs.
A misfield in the deep let the batters scramble back for a triple.
Her innings of forty included three triples, all of them run hard between the wickets.
Note
Three runs in cricket are nearly always run, not hit: a ball that reaches the boundary scores four, or six if it clears it without bouncing. A triple therefore needs the ball to stay in play long enough for the batters to cross three times, which usually means a long chase in the deep or a misfield. The usual verbs are run and scramble: they scrambled back for a triple.
- 17In curling, a takeout shot that removes three stones from play.
Facing three opposing stones in the house, the skip called for a triple and made it perfectly.
His last-stone triple removed all of the opponents' counters and won the game.
Note
Curlers also call this shot a triple takeout. A stone leaves play once it comes to rest completely past the back line or touches a side line, and a triple sends three stones there with one throw: the kind of shot a skip calls when the house is crowded with opposing stones.
- 18Being one of a group of three, or the third.
Note
Shakespeare could still use triple for the third of three: in Twelfth Night (c. 1601–1602) it stands beside the saying that the third pays for all, with a play on a good tripping measure. The meaning is long gone. Before a noun the word now means threefold, as in the "three times as much" meaning; for position in a series, modern English says third.
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Practice
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Origin
From Middle English triple (also þripell), from Latin triplus. It is a doublet of treble.