sb. and a. Also 7 trypod, 7–8 tripode. [ad. L. tripis, tripod-, a. Gr. τρίπους, -ποδ- adj., three-footed, also as sb., f. τρι- three + πούς, ποδ- foot.]
A. sb. 1. Gr. and Rom. Antiq. A three-legged vessel; a pot or cauldron resting on three legs; a similar ornamental vessel, often presented as a prize, or as a votive offering (see also 2).
[1370. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), II. 130. Item unum tripod ferri.]
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XVIII. 308. He gaue command to his neare souldiers, To put a Tripod to the fire, to cleanse the festred gore From off the person.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, V. 146. Within the circle, arms and tripods lie, Ingots of gold and silver heap’d on high.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, VIII. 333. A tripod, or a chariot with its steeds.
1834. Lytton, Pompeii, II. ix. In the centre … was a small altar on which stood a tripod of bronze.
1853. Humphreys, Coin-coll. Man., iv. (1876), 35. The principal type of the coinage of Crotona is the tripod.
2. spec. A vessel of this kind at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi, on which the priestess seated herself to deliver oracles. Hence allusively, the Delphic oracle; any oracle or oracular seat.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1356. I will not be affraid to affirme that this reason properly is the Tripode or three footed table as one would say, and Oracle of trueth.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1892), II. 637. Pythagoras, whom the Tripod [= oracle of Apollo] pronounc’d the wisest Man.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 99. Dr. Price, in whom the fumes of his oracular tripod were not entirely evaporated.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, xliii. V. 271. He compelled the prophetess by threats to mount the tripod, and pronounce a declaration.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol., i. 4. He [the comparative philologist] is ready to take his seat on the tripod.
3. A seat, table, or other similar structure with three legs; esp. a three-legged stool.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Tripode (tripodium), a three footed stool, any thing that hath three feet.
1710. Addison, Whig Exam., No. 1, ¶ 3. Three legs is a joint-stool, called in the Sphinx’s country a tripode.
1798. Bloomfield, Farmer’s Boy, Spring, 193. A friendly tripod forms their humble Seat.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Wks. (Bohn), III. 2. Each must stand on his glass tripod, if he would keep his electricity.
1887. J. Nicholson, Beacons E. Yorksh., 13, note. The brandrith is literally an iron tripod.
4. A three-legged support of any kind; esp. a frame or stand with three (diverging) legs, usually hinged at the top, for supporting a camera, compass, or other apparatus.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 185. A sort of tripod, having a flat ring of brass for its upper, and another for its lower part.
1893. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (1907), 15. Cameras … intended to be used whilst supported on a tripod, and designated ‘stand-cameras.’
5. Tripod of life, vital tripod (fig.): see quot.
1834. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest (ed. 4), The heart, lungs, and brain constitute, according to the happy expression of Bordeu, the tripod of life.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Tripod, Vital.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., I. 19. These three organs—the brain, the lungs, and the heart—have been fancifully termed the tripod of life.
6. Anat. and Zool. a. A bone or other structure with three processes; a tripodal bone, etc. b. A sponge-spicule with three equal rays (Cent. Dict. Suppl., 1909).
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 883. Plectellaria, without shell,… or with an incomplete one, either a basal tripod without ring,… or a sagittal ring usually without tripod.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., The premaxillary bone of birds is a tripod.
7. attrib. and Comb., as tripod-head, -leg, -top; tripod-covering, -mounted adjs.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, V. 173. Pythons Trypod-couering hide.
1872. C. King, Mountain. Sierra Nev., xii. 257. Playfully drumming the frail crest with our tripod legs.
1889. Anthony’s Photogr. Bull., II. 160. A few duplicate screws for camera and tripod head … will be of much use.
1893. Photogr. Ann., 40. There is no tripod-top screw to lose.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 25 May, 4/2. A tripod-mounted gun.
B. adj.
1. Having or resting upon three feet or legs; three-footed, three-legged; of the form of a tripod.
Tripod race (quot. 1870), a THREE-LEGGED race.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, XXIII. 50. Th’ attending heralds,… With kindled flames the tripod-vase surround.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 373. I found many Badjoo boats,… all of them having the tripod mast.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxvi. A tripod lamp that stood on the stairs.
1833. T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., I. iv. A cedar bagatelle board … on silver tripod stand.
1870. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., July, Suppl. 9/2. Tripod race.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tripod jack, a screw-jack supported on three legs, connected to a common base-plate.
2. ? Uttered as from the tripod, oracular; or ? Three feet long (fig.: cf. SESQUIPEDALIAN A. 1).
1798. Mar. Edgeworth, Pract. Educ. (1811), II. 29. He may be taught with much care and cost to speak tripod sentences.
1834. Mar. Edgeworth, Helen, vii. Some pages of ‘The Rambler’ … I liked not at all; its tripod sentences tired my ear.
