trefoil (tre foil)

and a. [ The delicate trefoil that muffled warm A slope on Ida. T. B. Aldrich , Piscataqua River. 21. The third leaf put forth by a young plant. To make hem [cabbagès] hoor as frost eke crafte is fonde: Let grounden gla e goo sifte on hem aboute, When thaire trefoil or quaterfoil is oute. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 83. 3. An ornamen- tal feathering IMG:content-0809.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small] leaf. It consists usually of three rounded and slightly pointed leaves set in a formal way at the three upper extremities of a small cro , the lower extremity of which terminates in different ways. Also trefle. 5. A bombycid moth, Lasiocampa trifolii, whose larva feeds on gra and clover in Europe. Also called gra - egger and clover -egger.- Bird's-foot trefoil. See bird's - foot and Lotus, 2. - Bitumen-trefoil. See Psoralea. - Bog-trefoil. Same as bog - bean. - Hare's foot trefoil. See hare's - foot, 1.- Marsh-trefoil, See bog -bean and Menyanthes. - Melilot trefoil, the black Medicago lupulin a. Also trefoil - melilot. Shrubby trefoil. Same as hop -tree. See Ptelea. - Snail-trefoil. Same as snail - clover. - Spanish trefoil. Same as lucerne. -Thorny trefoil, a thorny shrub of the genus Fagonia, order Zygophylleæ, especially F. Cretic a of the Mediterranean region. - Tree-trefoil, the laburnum. - Trefoil of the diaphragm. See diaphragm. -Water-trefoil. Same as bog - bean (See also bean - trefoil , heart - trefoil , hop trefoil, moon- trefoil, tick - trefoil.) II. a . Characterized by the presence or prominence of a trefoil or trefoils; foils; consisting of trefoils; thrice foliated. The smaller Benedictine church,. whose bell-tower groups so well with Saint Nicolas, employs in that bell tower a trefoil arch. E. A. Freeman , Venice, p. 21.