/trip"lit/ , n.
1. one of three children or offspring born at the same birth.
2. triplets , three offspring born at one birth.
3. any group or combination of three.
4. Pros. three successive verses or lines, esp. when rhyming and of the same length; a stanza of three lines.
5. Also called tercet . Music. a group of three notes to be performed in the time of two ordinary notes of the same kind.
6. an assembled imitation gem with three parts, the center one giving the color, the top and bottom, sometimes genuine, supplying the wearing qualities.
7. Genetics. a sequence of three nucleotides; a codon in messenger RNA and an anticodon in transfer RNA.
8. Optics. a compound lens in which three lenses are combined.
9. triplets , (in some card games) three cards of the same denomination.
[ 1650-60; TRIPLE + -ET ]