tri·ple / ˈtripəl/ • adj. consisting of or involving three parts, things, or people: a triple murder triple somersaults. ∎  having three times the usual size, quality, or strength: a triple dark rum. ∎  (of a person or animal) having done or won something three times: a triple champion.• n. 1. a set of three things or parts. ∎  an amount that is three times as large as another: the triples of numbers. ∎  Bowling three consecutive strikes.2. (triples) a sporting contest in which each side has three players.3. (Triples) Bell-ringing a system of change ringing using seven bells, with three pairs changing places each time.4. Baseball a hit that enables the batter to reach third base.5. another term for trifecta.• v. [intr.] 1. become three times as much or as many: grain prices were expected to triple. ∎  [tr.] multiply (something) by three: the party more than tripled its share of the vote.2. Baseball hit a triple: he tripled into right field.DERIVATIVES: trip·ly / ˈtriplē/ adv.

triple consisting of or involving three things, parts, or people.
Triple Alliance a union or association between three powers or states, in particular that made in 1668 between England, the Netherlands, and Sweden against France, and that in 1882 between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy against France and Russia.
triple crown a name for the papal tiara, recorded from the mid 16th century, and referred to in Shakespeare's 2 Henry VI (1592). In horse-racing, the triple crown is the winning of the Two Thousand Guineas, the Derby, and the St Leger by the same horse.
triple-witching hour in the US, an informal name for the unpredictable final hour of trading on the US Stock Exchange before the simultaneous expiry of three different kinds of options; the term is a development of witching hour.

triple adj. XVI; sb. XV. — (O)F. triple or L. triplus — Gr. triploûs, f. TRI- + pl- (see FOLD2), for L. triplex (whence triplex XVII).
So triplicate adj. XV; sb. XVIII. — L. triplicātus, pp. of triplicāre, f. triplex, -ic-, triplicity threefold condition; division into three groups of the signs of the Zodiac. XIV. — late L. triplicitās. Hence triplet set of three, as of lines of verse (XVII), notes of music (XIX); one of three at a birth (XVIII).