ONE (or TWO’S) COMPANY—THREE’S NONE! phr. (colloquial).—A suggestion to a second or third party that ‘their room is preferred before their company.’
1430. Babees Booke. [E.E.T.S.], 307.
| Be not ÞE THRYD FELAW for wele ne wo; | |
| Thre oxen in plowgh may neuer wel drawe. |
CUBE OF THREE, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1705–6. HEARNE, Jan. 30 [Reliquiæ, i. 93]. The great health now is, The CUBE OF THREE, which is the number 27, i.e., the number of the protesting lords.
THREE TIMES THREE! phr. (colloquial).—Three cheers, thrice repeated.
1850. TENNYSON, In Memoriam, Conclusion.
| Again the feast, the speech, the glee…. | |
| The crowning cup, the THREE-TIMES-THREE. |
1857. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown’s School-days, i. 6. I must give you a toast to be drunk with THREE TIMES THREE and all the honours.
TO PLAY THREE TO ONE, verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate: see RIDE. Also TO PLAY THREE TO ONE AND SURE TO LOSE (GROSE).
[?]. Old Song. ‘As I cam o’er the Cairney Mount’ [BURNS, The Merry Muses (c. 1800), 45].
| A furious fecht we did maintain, | |
| Wi’ equal courage and desire, | |
| Altho’ he struck me THREE TO ANE. |
See SHEET.
