trilogy

[Gr. trilogia, from tri = three, and logos a word, a speech.] 1. Lit. & Drama : A series of three dramas, which, though complete each in itself, bear a certain relation to each other, and form one historical and poetical picture. The term belongs more particu larly to the Greek drama. In Athens it was customary to exhibit on the same occasion three serious dramas, or a trilogy, at first connected by a sequence of subject, but afterward unconnected, and on distinct subjects, a fourth or satyric drama being also added, the characters of which were satyrs. Shakespeare's Henry VI . may be called a trilogy. [TETRALOGY.] 2. Fig .: Any literary production consisting of three parts forming a connected whole. "His doleful trilogy of Nottingham speeches."- St . James's Gazette , Oct. 25, 1887. tri-lõph-o-don, s . [Prefix tri- ; Greek lophos =a crest, and suff.-odon.] Paleontol.: A sub-genus or section of Mastodon (q. v.), in which the molars have three ridges. "Our youth got me to play the woman's part, And I was trimm'd in Julia's gown.' -2 Samuel xix. 24. chastise. II. Technically : boil, boy; pout, jowl; cat, çell, chorus, chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; 2. Nautical : trimerocephalus (1) To adjust, as a ship or boat, by arranging the cargo or disposing the weight of persons or goods so equally on each side of the center and at each end, that she shall sit well in the water and sail by the stern respectively, when the weight is so disposed as to make her draw more water toward the head than toward the stern, or the reverse. "In order to trim the ve el the carts were moved astern." -London Daily Chronicle . (2) To arrange in due order for sailing. "So they rose and trimmed their wherry." Blackie: Lays of Highlands and Islands , p. 8. B. In trans.: To hold or adopt a middle course between parties, so as to appear to favor each. "They wanted no such aristocrats or trimming Whigs for that constituency."-London Daily Chronicle. *1. To trim away : To lose or waste in fluctuating between parties. *2. To trim forth : To trick out, to dre out, to set off. 3. To trim up : To dre up; to make trim or neat. "I found her trimming up the diadem On her dead mistre ." Shakesp.: Antony and Cleopatra , v. 2. *tri-măc-u-lar, a. [Lat. tri- =three, and macula a spot.) Marked with three spots. tri-măs-tig-1-dæ, s. pl. [Mod. Lat. tri mastix (gen it. trimastig ( is ); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff.- idœ.] Zool .: A family of Flag ell at a Pan to stomata, with four genera. Animalcules naked, free-swimming or temporarily adherent; flagella three in number, equal or sub-equal, inserted close to each other; no distinct oral aperture.