a. [f. three head(s + -ED2.] Having three heads.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., ix. (Z.), 67. Triceps, þryheafdede.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 300. He highyt vnto helle yates, A þre hedet hounde in his honnd coght.
1567. Golding, Ovids Met., VII. (1593), 157. And thou three-headed Hecat.
1749. South-Carolina Gaz., 13 March, 2/1. They [Pompey, Crassus, and Cæsar] procured the Authority of the [Roman] Senate, and the Sanction of the People, for this monstrous three-headed Tyranny over Senate and People.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xxvi. (1852), 456. The dog three-headed, by the gates of woe.
1870. Lloyds Weekly, 9 Jan., 8/5. The Basques still believe in a three-headed, or triple-throated, flying dragon, whose appearance betokens some impending calamity, such as war, cholera, or famine.
1905. W. T. Pilter, Bible & Babylon, 116. The woman was first tempted by the three-headed Serpent.