Also 6 quadriple, 7 -ruble. [ad. F. quadrupler (1404) or L. quadrupl-āre, f. quadrupl-us: see prec.]
1. trans. To make four times as great or as many as before; to multiply by four.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVIII. 30. He suld fecht that day, Thouch Tryplit or quadruplit war thai.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., F iij. Therfore I doe quadriple .195. and it maketh .780.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, I. 129. Yet we all, all losse thou sufferst thus, Will treble; quadruple in gaine.
1642. Howell, For. Trav. (Arb.), 87. Double the howers above twelve in the longest solstitiall day, and the product will shew the climat, quadruble them ’twill shew the parallell.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 439. I am confident … that the mass of human wretchedness is quadrupled by their influence.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xxiii. 178. The Press, by reporting the speeches of these men, quadrupled their power in Parliament.
1883. Stubbs’ Mercantile Circular, 8 Nov., 982/2. The import of raw cotton, has more than quadrupled itself in two years.
2. To amount to four times as many as.
1832. Lewis, Use & Ab. Pol. Terms, xi. 92. The number of females … probably more than quadrupled that of the male governors.
3. intr. (for refl.) To grow to four times the former number, amount or size.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., II. ii. (1869), I. 296. The trade of Scotland has more than quadrupled since the first erection of the two publick banks at Scotland.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, v. 97. The exports … have quadrupled since the relaxation of the monopoly.
1882. Pebody, Eng. Journalism, xix. 145. Mr. Levy reduced the price of the paper…. The circulation doubled, trebled, quadrupled.
Hence Quadrupled ppl. a. = QUADRUPLE a.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 99. The Harts of Briletum and Ibarne, have their reins quadrupled or fourfold.
1865. Mansfield, Salts, 465. A quadrupled salt with a single molecule of adjunct.
