Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various plants of the pea family, chiefly of the genera Trifolium and Lotus, having compound trifoliolate leaves.
  • noun An ornament, symbol, or architectural form having the appearance of a trifoliolate leaf.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy, the triangular area which forms the front part of a molar tooth; the protocone, paracone, and metacone lying at the angles. Same as trigon, 6.
  • noun A plant of the genus Trifolium; clover.
  • noun The third leaf put forth by a young plant.
  • noun An ornamental feathering or foliation used in medieval Pointed architecture in the heads of window-lights, tracery, panelings, etc., in which the spaces between the cusps represent a three-lobed figure.
  • noun In heraldry, a bearing supposed to represent a clover-leaf.
  • noun A bombycid moth, Lasiocampa trifolii, whose larva feeds on grass and clover in Europe. Also called grass-egger and clover-egger.
  • Characterized by the presence or prominence of a trefoil or trefoils; consisting of trefoils; thrice foliated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Trifolium, which includes the white clover, red clover, etc.; -- less properly, applied also to the nonesuch, or black medic. See clover, and medic.
  • noun (Arch.) An ornamental foliation consisting of three divisions, or foils.
  • noun (Her.) A charge representing the clover leaf.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany Any of several plants of the pea family, having compound, trifoliate leaves; especially one of the genus Trifolium.
  • noun A symbol having the shape of such leaves, especially when used as an architectural ornament.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of several Old World herbs of the genus Medicago having small flowers and trifoliate compound leaves
  • noun a plant of the genus Trifolium
  • noun an architectural ornament in the form of three arcs arranged in a circle

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman trifoil, from Latin trifolium : tri-, tri- + folium, leaf; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman trifoil < Old French trefeuil < Latin trifolium < tri- + folium (leaf).

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Examples

  • It is sometimes designated by the term trefoil, three leaved.

    Report of the North-Carolina Geological Survey. Agriculture of the Eastern Counties: Together with Descriptions of the Fossils of the Marl Beds 1858

  • * Hmmm. Sweet trefoil is purportedly yet another name for this close fenugreek relation.

    Toast: Lindy 2006

  • * Hmmm. Sweet trefoil is purportedly yet another name for this close fenugreek relation.

    Strange Doings on the Porch Lindy 2006

  • Friedman combined these by twisting wire to form the simplest knot there is - an overhand knot mathematicians call a trefoil - and then dipping it into soapy water.

    Science News / Features, Blog Entries, Column Entries, Issues, News Items and Book Reviews 2009

  • (1290-1298), it consists of a lofty central arch with smaller openings on the sides; above the arches are enriched gables with pinnacles and finials; over the centre arch in a trefoil is a figure of the Saviour; the restoration of the north side of this monument will afford some idea of its original appearance; the effect has been somewhat subdued by the softened light from the east window.

    Ely Cathedral Anonymous

  • Adidas is cracking down on underground designers who replace the company's "trefoil" logo with a pot leaf.

    Adverts Subverted 2008

  • * Bersîm is a kind of trefoil, the _Trifolium Alexandrinum_ of LINNÆUS.

    History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12) M. L. McClure 1881

  • Because neither of he kits were sponsored my Puma, He also re-designed the Puma logo on the shirt to look like the ones on the original shirts, therefore the Ennerre logo is given a Puma make-over, this is also goes for the Adidas logo which was on the Boca shirt, using the trefoil idea i reworked it creating a similar logo for Puma.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • Because neither of he kits were sponsored my Puma, He also re-designed the Puma logo on the shirt to look like the ones on the original shirts, therefore the Ennerre logo is given a Puma make-over, this is also goes for the Adidas logo which was on the Boca shirt, using the trefoil idea i reworked it creating a similar logo for Puma.

    Week 3 Puma kit templates vote Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • Most intriguing was a black incense burner, depicting a man wearing a distinctive headdress, marked by a trefoil shape on its forehead like the tassel of a jester's cap.

    How a 'Jester god' revealed oldest Mayan royal tomb 2011

Comments

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  • In heraldry, a bearing conventionally representing a clover-leaf with its stalk; resembling a small cross with rounded leaves or lobes in place of the three upper arms.

    February 6, 2007

  • trefoil

    November 3, 2007

  • See clubs

    January 27, 2008

  • a delicious sugar cookie with trifoliate form sold by the girl scouts

    February 26, 2013