Meanings
plural tripodes
- historicalrareA vessel (usually a pot or cauldron) resting on three legs, often given as an ornament, a prize, or as an offering at a shrine to a god or oracle; often specifically, that such vessel upon which the priestess sat to deliver her oracles at the shrine to Apollo at Delphi.
Synonyms: tripod
- biologyThe hindmost Weberian ossicle of the Weberian apparatus, touching the anterior wall of the swimbladder and connected by a dense, elongate ligament to the intercalarium.
Synonyms: malleus, malleus Weberi
- obsoleterareCambridge University; capitalised when used as a title; Cambridge University; capitalised when used as a titleA Bachelor of Arts appointed to make satirical strictures in humorous dispute with the candidates at a degree-awarding ceremony.
Synonyms: tripos, bachelor of the stool, prevaricator, terrae filius[w:Oxford University|Oxford University]]>
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA vessel (usually a pot or cauldron) resting on three legs, often given as an ornament, a prize, or as an offering at a shrine to a god or oracle; often specifically, that such vessel upon which the priestess sat to deliver her oracles at the shrine to Apollo at Delphi.
nounThe hindmost Weberian ossicle of the Weberian apparatus, touching the anterior wall of the swimbladder and connected by a dense, elongate ligament to the intercalarium.
nounA Bachelor of Arts appointed to make satirical strictures in humorous dispute with the candidates at a degree-awarding ceremony.
Origin
- Ancient Greekτρίπους
- Latintripūs
- Englishtripus
Unadapted borrowing from Latin tripūs, from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous); doublet of tripod, tripos, and teapoy. In the sense associated with Cambridge University, the Tripus is named after the three-legged stool on which he sat during the degree-awarding ceremony.
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tripus
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
tripus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tripus
“tripus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tripus. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tripus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tripus.
Source: tripus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.