triolet (treolet)

[F. triolet, a triolet, OF. triolet, a triolet, also trefoil, peated as the seventh and eighth, while the first is repeated as the fourth. Representing the repeated lines by capital letters the rime-scheme would thus be A, B, a, A, a, b, A, B. In humorous examples a fresh sense is often skilfully given to the fourth line. The first French triolet is said to have been by Adam le Roi (end of thirteenth century). Triolets were written in England as early as 1651 by Patrick Carey, whose efforts Sir Walter Scott published in 1820. 2. In music , same as triplet . trional (trī'ō-nal), n. A synthetic remedy used as a hypnotic. [Recent.] Triones (tri-ō'nez), n. pl. [NL., Trionychidæ (tri-ō-nik'i-dē), n. pl. [NL., both hemispheres, being thus very widely distributed. The body very flat and sub circular or disk-like, and covered with soft, tough integument instead of a shell; the skin is variously roughened or tuberculous in different cases; the feet are clubbed, webbed, and formed for swimming, and end in three claws; the neck is long, and the snout is sharp. These turtles are entirely aquatic, and live in ponds, where they usually lie half buried in the mud. They are chiefly carnivorous, highly predaceous and ferocious, and bite severely. The flesh of some species is highly esteemed. The largest living soft-shelled turtle is Chitra indica, sometimes taken as type of a different family. (See Chitra, Chitradæ.) Several American forms occur in the United States, as Trionyx (or Aspidonectes ) ferox, the southern soft-shelled turtle, of the lower Mi i ippi and of other rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, 12 to 18 inches in length of body; Aspidonectes spinifer, with several conical protuberances on the back (see cut under Aspidonectes ); and Emyda mutica, a smaller species, up to 12 inches in length of carapace, inhabiting the middle and upper Mi i ippi region and some of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence river (see Emyda ). Also, wrongly, Trionycidæ.