[a. F. triolet (1538 in Godef., used in senses 1 and 3), dim. of trio; but see Hatz.-Darm. for a different origin.]
1. Verse. A stanza of eight lines, constructed on two rhymes, in which the first line is repeated as the fourth and seventh, and the second as the eighth.
1651. P. Carey (title), Trivial Poems, and Triolets. Written in obedience to Mrs. Tomkin’s commands.
1836. F. Mahony, Father Prout (1860), 208. To his fostering care the poetry of France is indebted for … the triolet.
1878. Dowden, Stud. Lit., 394. This writer excels in sonnets, and that in triolets.
1880. F. Hueffer, in Macm. Mag., Nov., 51. Such a poem as the following triolet, by Mr. Robert Bridges, is perfect of its kind. ‘When first we met we did not guess’ [etc.].
† 2. Cards. Term for one-third of the stakes at the game of Beast. Obs.
1680. Cotton, Compl. Gamester, xxiv. (ed. 2), 108. He that hath three of any sort, that is, three fours, three fives, three sixes, and so forth, takes up the Triolet.
ǁ 3. Mus. = TRIPLET 2 c. rare–0. (Properly Fr.)
1888. in Cassell’s Encycl. Dict.
