Also triptic. [f. TRI- after DIPTYCH; cf. Gr. τρίπτυχος consisting of three layers, and It. triptica, F. triptyque (Littré).]
1. a. Antiq. A set of three writing-tablets hinged or tied together. b. A card made to fold in three divisions. Also attrib.
1731. Gale, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 161. The Diptychs and Triptychs that were covered with Wax, served only for common Occurrences.
1885. E. M. Thompson, in Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 154/1. These triptychs then were libelli of three tablets of wood, cleft from one piece and fastened together, like the leaves of a book, by strings passed through two holes pierced near the edge.
Mod. Advt. Confirmation Triptych. A small-folding Triptych Certificate Card.
2. A picture or carving (or set of three such) in three compartments side by side, the lateral ones being usually subordinate, and hinged so as to fold over the central one; chiefly used as an altar-piece.
[1848. Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850), 227. In a tabernacle or triptica by Niccolo Frumenti, the central compartment represents the raising of Lazarus.]
1849. Curzon, Visits Monast., 366. The most valuable reliquary of St. Laura is a kind of triptic.
1852. Mrs. Jameson, Leg. Madonna, Introd. (1857), 53. A Triptych is an altar-piece in three parts.
1896. Church Times, 14 Aug., 154. There is no east window, but above the altar is an exquisite triptych.
So in Fr. form ǁ Triptyque, applied to a threefold card used as an international passport by associations of motorists.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 21 Jan., 4/2. The triptyque, or special card which opens the doors to half-a-dozen countries, and relieves its holder of much bewildering formula when touring abroad.
1909. Daily Chron., 9 July, 8/3. The adoption of the triptyque, or international passport, for balloons and aeroplanes such as is now in use for motor-cars.
