Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Tripos
1.
A tripod.
[Obs.]
Dryden.
2.
A university examination of questionists, for honors; also, a tripos paper; one who prepares a tripos paper.
[Cambridge University, Eng.]
Classical tripos examination
, the final university examination for classical honors, optional to all who have taken the mathematical honors.
C. A. Bristed.
– Tripos paper
, a printed list of the successful candidates for mathematical honors, accompanied by a piece in Latin verse. There are two of these, designed to commemorate the two tripos days. The first contains the names of the wranglers and senior optimes, and the second the names of the junior optimes. The word tripos is supposed to refer to the three-legged stool formerly used at the examinations for these honors, though some derive it from the three brackets formerly printed on the back of the paper.
C. A. Bristed.
Webster 1828 Edition
Tripos
TRI'POS
,Noun.
Definition 2024
tripos
tripos
English
Noun
tripos (plural triposes)
- (obsolete) A three-legged structure; a tripod.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.73:
- Thales sent the golden tripos, which the fishermen found and the oracle commanded to be “given to the wisest”, to Bias, Bias to Solon, etc.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York Review of Books, 2001, p.73:
- Any of the final examinations for a BA honours degree at Cambridge University.