a. and sb. Also (as or alter Fr.) tricorne. [ad. F. tricorne or L. tricornis three-horned, f. tri-, TRI- + L. cornū horn.]
A. adj. Three-horned; having three horns or horn-like projections; spec. applied to a cocked hat with the brim turned up on three sides.
1844. Hoblyn, Dict. Med. Terms, Tricorne,… a term applied to each lateral ventricle of the brain, from its three-horned shape.
1864. M. J. Higgins, Ess. (1875), 201. With their tricorn hats they looked very much like Knaves of Spades.
1883. A. Wallis in N. & Q., 6th Ser. VIII. 363/1. A white bob-wig surmounted by a tricorne hat completes the ordinary costume of a gentleman living in the second Georgian period.
1909. Daily Graphic, LXXX. 13/1. An ermine tricorne hat.
B. sb.
1. An imaginary) creature with three horns.
1760. Impostors Detected, III. viii. II. 78. These creatures were distinguished … by a lump on their heads,… supported by three small protuberances; from whence they were called Tri-corns.
1823. [see BICORN].
1895. F. E. Hulme, Nat. Hist. Lore & Leg., 147. What can have … suggested the idea of such a very unpleasant tricorn, it is impossible to say.
2. A tricorn hat: see A.
1876. G. Meredith, Beauch. Career, ii. A shocking bad, bald, brown-rubbed old tricorne.
1903. J. Conrad & Hueffer, Romance, V. i. He wore a large and shadowy tricorn.
So † Tricornous a. (obs. rare–0), three-horned.
1656. in Blount, Glossogr.
