triumvirate

plural triumvirates

1. Ancient RomehistoricalgovernmentA council of three magistrates ruling jointly; specifically, the First Triumvirate (60 or 59 – 53 B.C.E.) or the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.); the office of a triumvir (“one of such magistrates”), or of the three triumviri.

   [H]e frets / That Lepidus of the Triumpherate, ſhould be depos'd, / And being that, vve detaine all his Reuenue.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi], page 353, column 2

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   […] I muſt not forget to ſet dovvne a pretie jeſt, vvhich hath been reported by many as touching Lepidus: It happened during the time of his Triumvirat, […]

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXV.] The Manner How to Make Birds Silent, and to Leave Their Chattering and Singing. Who First Devised with Fire and Pencill to Enamell and Paint the Arched Roofes and Embowed Seelings of Houses. The Admirable Prices of Pictures, Inserted Here and There among Other Matters..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 546

2. broadlygovernmentAny group of three joint rulers.

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   Then vvas contriued a petition, as from the generalitie, vnto the triumuirat Gouernors; vvherein they ſupplicated, that by no meanes they ſhould reſigne the gouernment to any ſhould come from England, vpon vvhat tearmes ſoeuer, vntill ſix moneths after the returne of their ſhip ſent to the VVeſt-Indies: […]

   1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “Captaine Iohn Mansfield His Moneth”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 5th booke, page 181

3. broadlyfigurativelyAny group of three people regarded as significant in some way; also (rare), a group of three things; a trio.

   [T]he great triumvirate of Italian poetry, good sense, and culture called her [the city of Florence] mother.

   1870, James Russell Lowell, “Dryden”, in Among My Books, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 2

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   I have therefore alvvayes endevoured to compoſe thoſe fevvds and angry diſſentions betvveene affection, faith, and reaſon. For there is in our ſoule a kind of Triumvirate, or triple government of three competitors, vvhich diſtract the peace of this our Common-vvealth, not leſſe than did that other the State of Rome.

   1642, [Thomas Browne], “[The First Part]”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC, page 36

   VVhen Johnson [Ben Jonson], [William] Shakespeare, and thy ſelfe [John Fletcher] did ſit, / And ſvvay'd in the Triumvirate of vvit— […]

   1647, I. Denham [i.e., John Denham], “On Mr. John Fletcher’s Workes”, in Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher [et al.], Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], →OCLC

   [T]hat violent and lavvleſs Triumvirate vvithin him, under the falſifi'd names of his Reaſon, Honour, and Conſcience, the old circulating dance of his ſhifts and evaſions.

   1649, J[ohn] Milton, “Upon His Going to the Scots”, in ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC, page 188

   In the mean time, my Lord of Bath [William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath] and Lord Hervey [John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey], who seem deserted by every body else, are grown the greatest friends in the world at Bath; and to make a complete triumvirate, my Lord Gower [John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower] is always of their party: how they must love each other, the late, the present, and the would-be Privy Seal!

   1742 November 2 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Horace Walpole, “Letter LIV”, in Lord Dover [i.e., George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover], editor, Letters of Horace Walpole Earl of Orford, to Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley […], published 1833, →OCLC, page 250

   O hovv I curſed the cenſoriouſneſs of this plaguy triumvirate! A parſon, a milliner, and a mantua-maker! The tvvo latter, not more by buſineſs led to adorn the perſon, than generally by ſcandal to deſtroy the reputations of thoſe they have a mind to exerciſe their talents upon!

   1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXVI. Mr. Belford, to Robert Lovelace, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 116

   Synonyms: leash, tern, ternary, ternion, threeness, threesome, triad, trinary