Also 5 trypartite, -tyte, 5–6 tripertite, -tyte. [ad. L. tripartīt-us, f. tri- three + partītus, pa. pple. of partīrī to divide.]
1. Divided into or composed of three parts or kinds; threefold, triple.
c. 1420. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1031. Freewyll, Vertew & Vyce, as trypartyte [rhymes lyght, wyght].
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 161. Of the tripartite langage of Saxones,… the weste men of Englonde sownde and acorde more with the men of the este … then the men of the northe with men of the sowthe. Ibid., III. 275. Oon Socrates Cassiodorus commendethe in his story tripartite.
1592. Warner, Alb. Eng., VIII. xliii. (1612), 206. Of Brittish race and many, and of Saxon Princes some, Whose blood by Normaine mixture now is tripartite become.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 56. Hee divided the nights according to a tripartite or threefold function, For sleepe, for affaires of State, and for his booke.
1647. Cleveland, Poems, Smectymnuus, 44. Like to an Ignis fatuus, whose fame Though sometimes tripartite, joynes in the same.
1745. J. Mason, Self Knowl., I. ii. (1853), 14. Man is … a tripartite Person; or a compound Creature made up of three distinct Parts, viz. the Body, which is the earthy or mortal Part of him, the Soul, which is the animal or sensitive Part; and the Spirit or Mind, which is the rational and immortal Part.
1848. Gallenga, Italy, I. IV. iii. 468. Though still nominally tripartite, Italy, for all commercial and intellectual purposes, was one.
1861. O’Curry, Lect. MS. Materials, 347. The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 15 Feb., 10/1. The folding bicycle…. This detachable machine is known as the ‘Tripartite,’ because it is made to disconnect into three separate parts.
b. Involving, or of the nature of, division into three parts.
1576. Fleming, trans. Caius’ Dogs (1880), 2. I wyll expresse and declare in due order, the grand and generall kinde of English Dogges,… making a tripartite diuision.
1596. Harington (title), An Anatomie of the Metamorphosed Aiax. Wherein by a tripertite method is plainly, openly and demonstratiuely declared [etc.].
1785. Burke, Nabob of Arcot, Wks. 1842, I. 331. They prevailed on him to propose a tripartite division of that vast country.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1805), IV. xxxix. 370. The tripartite division of the earth’s surface is a tradition of unknown antiquity.
1882–3. Schaff’s Encycl. Relig. Knowl., I. 724. A tripartite division into philosophical, historical and practical theology.
2. Made in three corresponding parts or copies, as an INDENTURE (q.v.) drawn up between three persons or parties, each of whom preserves one of the copies.
1442. in Proc. King’s Counc. Irel. (Rolls), 275. He was bounde by endenture tripartite to kepe the peas.
a. 1483. Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 74. One indenture trypartite; the one to remayne with these Butlers purveyours … the other parte, with the clerke of buttillary … the thirde parte to remayne in the countyng-house.
1592. West, 1st Pt. Symbol., § 47 D. These deedes indented are not only bypartite … but also may be made tripartite, that is of three parts.
1643. Baker, Chron., Hen. IV., 36. They [Earls of Northumberland and Worcester, and Henry Hotspur] agreed upon a Tripartite Indenture under their hands and seales, to divide the Kingdome into three parts.
a. 1743. Somerville, Steel-Scented Miser, 62. By precedents a bond can write, Or an indenture tripartite.
3. Engaged in or concluded between three parties.
1497. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. I. 50. The tripartite Warre … determyned ayenst the said Turk, and how the Hungaries, Boyams, and the Polans … shall make werte by land [etc.].
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 862/1. The articles of the league tripartite, agreed betwixt the emperour, the king of England, and the French king.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Warres, 666. George Count Solmes, Ernestus of Nassau,… and Vere General of the English,… Govern’d the Army by a Tripartite Command.
1775. L. Shaw, Hist. Moray, iii. (1882), 402. A parsonage … the patronage whereof was once tripartite between the King, Marshal, and Duffus.
1857. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., I. xxiv. 88. The tripartite treaty which virtually exists among three of the leading powers of the world.
4. Her. a. Applied to the field when divided into three parts of different tinctures: = TIERCÉ.
b. Applied to a cross or saltire when each of its members consists of three narrow bands with spaces between. Also TRIPARTED, † TRIPARTITED.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. xix. 79. The arms [of Surinam] are tripartite, which I apprehend to be some of those of the house of Somelsdyke, the West India company, and the town of Amsterdam.
5. Consisting of three parts or divisions, as a member or organ of an animal or plant.
a. Zool. and Anat.
1658. Rowland, Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 936. A black bill or beak, hardish, tripartite.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., IV. iv. 163. It is inserted into the three Intervals of the four upper Ribs, being tripartite.
1911. J. W. Jenkinson, Sea Urchin, 270. These larvae had a mouth and a typically tri-partite gut.
b. Bot.: spec. of a leaf, etc., Divided into three segments nearly to the base. (Abbrev. 3-partite.)
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Leaf, Tripartite Leaf.
1862. Darwin, Fertil. Orchids, ii. 90. The stigmatic surface is differently shaped, being more plainly tripartite.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 256. Solanum Dulcamara … leaves ovate or cordate, sometimes 3-partite.
6. Math. Involving three sets of variables.
1869. Cayley, Math. Papers, VI. 464. The quantic is unipartite, bipartite, tripartite, &c., according as the number of sets is one, two, three, &c.
B. sb. † a. A tripartite indenture (see 2). Obs. b. A book, document, or treatise in three parts.
1480. Coventry Leet Bk., 445. The people … in Hasil-wode,… throwen don thornes, ffirs, fern, brome; diggen turves, & such other; where be the tripartite they owe nothyng to haue there but comien of pasture to their bestes cominable.
1657. R. Mossom (title), The Preacher’s Tripartite, in Three Books.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xliv. (1836), 757. The tripartite [tripertita] of Aelius Paetus … was preserved as the oldest work of jurisprudence.
1861. O’Curry, Lect. MS. Materials, 350. Father Colgan’s deductions from the text of the Tripartite [cf. quot. 1861 in sense 1 above].
