Arch. Also erron. 7–9 tryglyph, 7 triglife, -iphe, 8–9 trigliph. Formerly in L. form triglyphus, pl. -i. [ad. L. triglyphus (Vitr.), a. Gr. τρίγλυφ-ος thrice-grooved, f. τρι-, TRI- + γλυφή carving. So F. triglyphe (1545 in Hatz.-Darm.).] A member or ornament in the Doric order, consisting of a block or tablet with three vertical grooves or glyphs (strictly, two whole grooves, and a half-groove on each side), repeated at regular intervals along the frieze, usually one over each column, and one or two (see DITRIGLYPH 2) between every two columns.
1563. Shute, Archit., C iij b. The Canalicoli, standing vpright within the Triglyphi…. Bitwixte the .2. Triglyphos, you shall set Methopa.
1624. Wotton, Archit., in Reliq. (1651), 230. A sober garnishment … of Triglyphs and Metopes alwayes in the Frize.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Triglyph … is a Member of the Frize of the Dorick Order.
1797. Holcroft, trans. Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2), III. xc. 528. A triglyph was nine feet and a half high.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 467. The architrave and trigliph, representing the beams and joists [of a primitive building].
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. I. vii. 76. The pillared shaft, the triglyph even rings, I think, indeed, the whole bright temple sings.
Hence Triglyphal a. = triglyphic (a); Triglyphed a., furnished or adorned with triglyphs; in quot. 1880 as pa. pple., ? carved in the manner of a triglyph; Triglyphic, Triglyphical (rare–0) adjs., (a) pertaining to or of the nature of a triglyph; (b) ‘containing three sets of characters or sculptures’ (Webster, citing Gliddon).
1890. Marquand, in Amer. Jrnl. Archæol., VI. 54. The Egyptian scotia … is replaced in the Greek entablature by the *triglyphal frieze.
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 217/2. The plain capital composed of merely an echinus and abacus, and a *triglyphed frieze, enable us to pronounce at once that the order is the Doric.
1849. Freeman, Archit., II. ii. 110. Some Sicilian examples exhibit the triglyphed frieze.
1880. F. W. Percival, in Academy, 4 Sept., 173. The hair … represented in long parallel tresses distinctly triglyphed in the rock.
1847. Webster, *Triglyphic, *Triglyphical.
1866. Ruskin, Crown Wild Olive, App. (1898), 219. They attack Brandenburg, under its Triglyphic protector.
