triples

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of triple.

   Martinez triples off the left-field wall, driving in two runs.

   In our tiny apartment, the kitchen table triples as a desk and a craft station.

   Note

   The verb works with or without an object: a baker triples a recipe, and a town's population triples in a decade. In baseball a batter triples off the wall, reaching third base on a single hit. With as, it gives something a third role on top of two it already has, as when a guest room triples as an office.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of triple.

   The young shortstop leads the league in triples this season.

   The bartender poured them two triples, and they both regretted it the next morning.

   Note

   Every sense of the noun shares this regular -s plural, so the word can mean three-base hits on the scoreboard, drinks with three portions of alcohol or three-patty burgers; context alone tells them apart. The same spelling is the present-tense verb, and the bell-ringers' word is a separate noun that only looks like this plural.

3. 3
   noununcountableplural

   In change ringing, the changes rung on seven bells.

   Before the Sunday service, the band rang a quarter peal of triples.

   Ringing triples demands steady concentration from every member of the band.

   Note

   Change ringers use it to name the stage, meaning how many bells are changing, not the method being rung. That is why it comes after the method's name, as in a quarter peal of plain bob triples, and why it stays plural even when it describes a single performance: there is no "a triple" in the tower.

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