triradiate, tri radiated

[Pref. tri-, and English radiate, radiated.] Having three rays. ( Owen.) tri-rect-ăn-gu-lar, a . [Pref. tri- , and English rectangular.] Applied to a spherical triangle, whose angles are all right angles. tri-rēme, s . [Lat. triremis =(s.) a trireme, (a.) having three banks of oars: tri =three, and rem us an oar; Fr. trirème ; Sp. & Ital. trireme .] Cla ical Antiq.: A galley or ve el having three ranks or benches of oars on each side, a common cla of war-ship among the ancient Romans, Greeks, Cart hag in i ans, . They were also provided with large square sails, which could be raised during a fair wind, to relieve the rowers. When two ships engaged, if tolerably well matched, the great object aimed at by each was, either by running up suddenly alongside of the enemy, to sweep away or disable a large number of his oars, or, by bearing down at speed, to drive the beak full into his side or quarter, in which case the planks were generally stove in, and the ve el went down. But if one of the parties was so decidedly inferior in seamanship as to be unable to cope with his antag Trireme. From an ancient fresco of the flight of Helen and Paris, discovered early in the eighteenth century in the Far. nese Gardens, Rome. onist in such maneuvers, he endeavored, as he approached, to grapple with him, and then the result was decided, as upon land, by the numbers and bravery of the combatants. "Some, indeed, fancy a different original of these names, as that in the triremes , for example, either that there were three banks one after the other on a level, or three rowers sat upon one bank; or else three men tugged all together at one oar; but this is contrary, not only to the authority of the cla ics, but to the figures of the triremes still appearing in ancient monuments." -Kennet: Antiquities of Rome , pt. ii., bk. iv.