a. [f. L. trifurc-us three-forked, f. tri-, TRI- + furca FORK + -ATE2. Cf. mod.F. trifurqué (Littré), trifourche (Cotgr.), also F. trifurcation (Bonnet).] Divided into three branches like the prongs of a fork; three-forked, three-pronged, trichotomous. Also fig. So Trifurcal a. (rare–1); Trifurcate v., intr. to divide or branch into three; Trifurcated a. = trifurcate adj.; also, having some part, as a fin, trifurcated, as the trifurcated blenny or hake; Trifurcation, division into three branches, or the point at which this takes place; † Trifurcous a. Obs. rare–0 = trifurcate adj.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., III. Suppl. Diss. Drama, 8. Whether he took himself to be affronted … and consequently that he deserv’d such *Trifurcal Repartees.
1811–31. Bentham, Logic, App., Wks. 1843, VIII. 291/2. Instead of bifurcate, two-pronged, suppose the plan of division, for example, *trifurcate, three-pronged.
1866. R. M. Ferguson, Electr. (1870), 97. Occasionally when darting between the clouds and the earth, it breaks up near the latter into two or three forks, and [lightning] is then called bifurcate or trifurcate.
1887. Sollas, in Encycl. Brit., XXII. 417/1. (Sponges) The arms of a triæne may bifurcate … or they may *trifurcate.
1894. Geol. Mag., Oct., 438. The primary ribs of the Australian fossil … trifurcate more regularly.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Trifurcated,… three-forked.
1769. Pennant, Zool., III. 131. A very singular trifurcated spine.
1836–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 933/2. The antenna on one side … was trifurcated.
1884. M. Mackenzie, Dis. Throat & Nose, II. 224. In two cases there was *trifurcation of the trachea.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., *Trifurcous,… three-forked.
