ˈtrīˌaŋgəl, -aiŋ- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin triangulum, from neuter of triangulus having three angles, triangular, from tri- three (akin to Latin tria, tres three) + angulus angle — more at three , angle
1. : a usually plane polygon having three sides — compare spherical triangle ; see area table
2. : a symbol (as of the Trinity in Christian art or as of life in primitive art), design, or decorative motif shaped like a triangle
3. : a triangular object, marking, area, or arrangement : a triangle-shaped thing: as
a. : a hoisting or weighing device consisting of a tripod of poles or spars from the apex of which is suspended a pulley or balance
b. : a frame formed of three halberds or poles stuck in the ground and united at the top and used formerly to bind British soldiers undergoing corporal punishment — often used in plural
men were frequently sent to the triangles — Time
c. : a musical percussion instrument of indefinite pitch usually made of a rod of steel bent into the form of a triangle open at one angle and sounded by striking with a small metal rod ; also : a similar piece of metal used in the same way as an instrument of call
a mess cook was beating the commissary triangle — K.M.Dodson
d. : a triangular area near the base of the wing in dragonflies
e. : a thin flat right-angled triangular instrument of wood or plastic usually cut with acute angles of 45 degrees or of 30 degrees and 60 degrees and used in drafting
f. : a triangular postage stamp
4.
a. : a group of three : triad
France's three-party coalition was described … as a type of triangle hard to break and impossible to maintain — P.S.Mowrer
triangle in an economic enterprise, composed of management, party leadership and labor-union organization — S.N.Harper & R.B.Thompson
b. : a situation involving three persons ; especially : one involving the love of two men for one woman or of two women for one man and the resulting complications
a comedy of the eternal triangle , where the lover is a man … and the husband is a fat, lazy, hungry, cowardly, protesting cuckold — Leslie Rees
[s]triangle.jpg[/s] [
triangle 1: 1 equilateral, 2 acute, 3 obtuse, 4 scalene, 5 isosceles, 6 right triangle
]