three
The digit/figure 3.
Noun
- The digit/figure 3.
- In our example, 1210 has 1 zero, 2 ones, 1 two and 0 threes. - 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv, page 1:
- Anything measuring three units, as length.
- Put all the threes in a separate container.
- A person who is three years old.
- All the threes will go in Mrs. Smith's class, while I'll take the fours and fives.
- The playing card featuring three pips.
- Three o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
- It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three. - 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which...
- Abbreviation of three-pointer.
Origin
From Middle English thre, threo, thrie, thri, from Old English þrī, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Doublet of tres and trey. Cognate with German drei, Albanian tre, Armenian երեք (erekʻ), Latin trēs, Latvian trīs, Lithuanian trỹs, Greek τρεῖς (treís), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.
Forms
Related
Derived
bad things come in threes ball-on-three-balls test big three Chinese three-banded box turtle Chinese three-striped box turtle clogs to clogs in three generations common three-ring count to three couple-three couple three easy as one two three Eurasian three-toed woodpecker fish and company stink after three days good things come in threes grade three in three days less than three logo three match-three game meat and three me three northern three-toed jerboa number three one-two-three
Numeral
- A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••).
- Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen. - 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
- There is a soft-mat seat (which originally had a palm fiber underwebbing) supported by three curved transverse braces. - 1995, Nancy Berliner, Sarah Handler, Friends of the House, →ISBN, page 79:
- Okay, on three, we open the door and jump on the rope. One, two… Wait, wait! Do we go on three? Or do we go on “go”? Three! Who said anything about “go”? - 2003 April 7, Michelle Lamoreaux, Robert Lamoreaux, “A Spy is...
- Describing a set or group with three elements.
Forms
Synonyms
Related
third thrice triple Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages