(stress var.), a. Of or pertaining to three corners (quot. a 1548); having three corners, three-cornered, triangular.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 122. The French kyng, perceiuyng this toune [Laigny], to be the thre corner key, betwene the territories of the Englishemen, the Burgonyons, and his awne.
1683. Wood, Life, 3 Dec. (O.H.S.), III. 84. He pointed to the dore, and bid me ‘be gone,’ with his three corner cap.
1903. Marshall, Metal Tools, 38. Three-corner files are very useful for cleaning out the sharp corners of square holes,… for sharpening saw teeth, or for filing nicks in a piece of steel before breaking it off.
So Three-cornerism (nonce-wd.), the fact or system of having ‘three-cornered’ constituencies; Three-corner-ways, -wise advs., with three corners, triangularly.
1884. Edin. Rev., Jan., 294. No diagnosis will discover *three-cornerism to be the cause of the disease.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xiv. 234. Toast some thin slices of bread cut *three-corner-ways.
1862. T. A. Trollope, Marietta, I. xii. 228. Kerchief folded *three-cornerwise.
