a. Having three legs, as a three-legged stool.
† Three-legged mare, a nickname for the gallows; three-legged race, a race run by couples, the right leg of one person being bound to the left leg of the other; † three-legged staff, a tripod for supporting surveying instruments, etc.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. i. 64. To combe your noddle with a three-leggd stoole.
1685. T. Brown, Advice Dr. Oates, 26. From Fear Of being mounted on a Three-leggd-Mare.
1694, 1834. [see MARE1 2 a].
1701. Moxon, Math. Instr., 21. Three-Legd Staff, made with Joynts to shut together, and take off in the middle for the better carriage: to support Instruments for Astronomy, Surveying, etc.
1764. Maskelyne, in Phil. Trans., LIV. 350. The wooden three-legged stand, which supports the sector.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, i. 3. Quill-driving was not my particular vocation, nor a three-legged stool the range to which I was willing to restrict myself.
1909. Mission Field, July, 118. How the boys did enjoy the three-legged race and the sack races!