Also 6–7 tryton. [a. L. Trītōn, Gr. Τρίτων, in sense 1.]
1. Gr. and Rom. Myth. Proper name of a sea-deity, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, or of Neptune and Salacia, or otherwise of Nereus; also, one of a race of inferior sea-deities, or imaginary sea-monsters, of semi-human form.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., VII. xv. (1886), 122. They have so fraied us with bull beggers, spirits, witches,… tritons, centaurs, dwarfes, giants, imps [etc.].
1593. Peele, Order of Garter, Wks. (Rtldg.), 585/2. A trump more shrill than Triton’s is at sea.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Triton, a god of the sea, also a weathercock.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 102. A Triton or Man-fish was taken on the shore of Portugal.
a. 1764. Lloyd, Chit-Chat, Poet. Wks. 1774, I. 193. Tritons which in the ocean dwell, And only rise to blow their shell.
1806. Wordsw., Sonnet, ‘The world is too much with us.’ So might I … hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, V. 824. Tritons swift on the deep with the hosts of Phorcus parade.
attrib. 1801. Eliz. Scot, Alonzo & Cora, 146. He prays the Triton-train To still the blustring winds, and smooth the main.
b. A figure of a Triton in painting, sculpture, etc.; in Her. represented as a bearded man with the hind quarters of a fish, and usually holding a trident and a shell-trumpet (cf. MERMAN).
1601. Holland, Pliny, IX. v. I. 236. A certain sea goblin, called Triton, sounding a shell like a Trumpet or Cornet:… in forme and shape like those that are commonly painted for Tritons.
1722. Richardson, Statues, &c. Italy, 116. Upon the Decks of the Ships there are Tritons.
1849. Clough, Amours de Voy., III. ii. It looked at me there from the face of a Triton in marble.
c. fig. and allusively: esp. applied to a seaman, waterman, or person connected in some way with the sea; in quot. 1900 to a large ship. Triton of or among the minnows (and similar phrases): see MINNOW 1 b.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurd., Epistle. My tongue is too to base a Tryton to eternise her praise.
1607. [see MINNOW 1 b].
1638. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (ed. 2), 12. Neptune sweld with rage in such impatience, that the Tritons (Marriners) grew agast.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Walk round Lond., Thames, Wks. 1709, III. III. 57. From their Lowzy Benches up started such a noizy multitude of old grizly Tritons.
1817. Coleridge, Lay Serm., 387. The wretched ambition of figuring as the triton of the minnows.
1900. Q. Rev., Jan., 80. These vessels [Atlantic liners] are the Tritons of the Sea.
1908. Nation, 26 Dec., 497/2. On his own side he is a Triton among the minnows.
2. Zool. a. A genus of marine gastropods with trumpet-shaped shells; an animal, or shell, of this genus or of the family Tritonidæ. Also called Triton’s shell.
1777. Pennant, Zool., IV. 61. Lepas. Acorn. Its animal the Triton. The shell multivalve.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., I. ix. 297. Others which live by prey, as the strombs, the helmet-shells, and the tritons.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 53/2. Triton variegatus, the marine trumpet or Triton’s shell.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1860, 185. The Personæ, or Mask-shells, are Tritons with a broad thin inner lip and curiously twisted mouth.
b. An extensive genus (now divided) of newts; an animal of this genus or group.
1839. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7), XIX. 160/2. Genus Triton, Laur. Aquatic salamanders…. Commonly called newts…. The crested triton…. The spotted triton.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. V. ii. 288. Triton, or Aquatic Salamander.
1909. Contemp. Rev., April, 446. The lost leg of a lizard, or the amputated leg of a triton, can be readily regenerated.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Tritoness, a female Triton; Tritonic a., of or pertaining to a Triton or Tritons; Tritonize v., intr. to play the Triton (see 1 c above); Tritonly adv., like or in the manner of a Triton.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, IX. 377. To her selfe the name she chose Of *Trytonesse.
1836. Foreign Q. Rev., XVII. 161. To conjure up fairy scenes and *tritonic festivals.
1841. Blackw. Mag., XLIX. 486. There alone is that petty vanity of *tritonizing among the minnows properly rebuked.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 229. Mercuriall … hath … noysed the name of our Ilande and of Yarmouth so *Tritonly.
1888. G. Meredith, Hard Weather, 16. Is the land ship? we are rolled, we drive Tritonly.
