threesomen.adj.adv.
/ˈθriːs(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈθris(ə)m/, Scottish English /ˈθris(ə)m/ Originally Scottish.
A. n.
1. Three persons together; three forming a company.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > three > group of three > [noun] > persons
threesome1489
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iii. 420 Bot it sa litill wes þat It Mycht our þe watter bot thresum flyt.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xv. 103 It is nocht possibil to gar thresum keip consel.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 275 Mccleine..eschapit and thriesum with him.
1816 W. Scott Black Dwarf viii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 155 The rest disperse by twasome and threesome through the waste, and meet me at the Trysting-pool.
1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona xxix. 346 We..sat down to meat, we threesome.
1926 Amer. Speech 1 630/2 The expressions onesome, twosome, threesome, foursome, fivesome, are coming to be used in other fields than golf, as a ‘threesome at tennis’, a ‘foursome for bridge’, a ‘fivesome for dinner’.
1951 E. Lambert Sleeping-house Party vii. 74 In a way it was an odd threesome. It occurred to me that Esther rather hung round our two gay boys.
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 June 333/2 The stresses and strains of this uneasy threesome are subtly conveyed.
1977 New Yorker 8 Aug. 57/1 A number of them were looking down from the Turnberry Hotel at the Ailsa course, on which the last threesomes were finishing their rounds.
1980 TWA Ambassador Oct. 92/1 Robbins's first and better novel, Another Roadside Attraction (praised by an odd threesome: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Graham Greene and Thomas Pynchon).
1981 M. McMullen Other Shoe (1982) ii. 22 Justin, why don't you squire Meg?.. Threesomes are awkward.
2. A game of golf in which one person plays against two opponents.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [noun] > types of game or match
round1744
match-playing1857
half-round1865
foursome1867
matchplay1877
stroke-game1896
threesome1901
score-play1902
stroke-competition1904
score-game1905
greensome1911
fivesome1928
skin game1942
three-ball1952
1901 Rules of Golf 5 A single player may play against two, when the match is called ‘a threesome’.
1918 Jrnl. Educ. Apr. 203 We came here for a ‘good old threesome’.
1931 W. Martyn Scarlett Murder iv. 48 I was playing a threesome against Sir Griffith Wadham and Lord Berrington.
B. adj. (and adv.) Chiefly Scottish.
1. Consisting or composed of three; performed by three together; threefold, triple. threesome plait n. dialect.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > three > group of three > [adjective]
triadic1788
threesome1839
triadical1890
1839 New Monthly Mag. 57 42 Any thing like a country-dance, or a threesome or foursome reel.
1872 W. Morris Love is Enough (1873) 8 To have seen Your nimble feet tread down the green In threesome dance.
1875 W. Morris tr. Virgil Æneids v. 580 Then..they..in threesome order slip Their cloven ranks.
1878 H. H. Gibbs Game of Ombre (ed. 2) 4 Tresillo means a threesome game.
1912 N.E.D. at Threesome Mod. Sc. A threesome cluster of nuts. She does her back-hair in a threesome plait.
2. quasi-adv. nonce-use: cf. foursome adj. 1b.
ΚΠ
1875 W. Morris tr. Virgil Æneids vii. 639 Mail-coat threesome laid Of golden link.
Derivatives
ˈthreesomeness n. the quality of existing in threes, triplicity.Apparently an isolated use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > three > condition of being threefold > [noun]
trinity?c1425
triplicity1555
triunion1650
ternariness1662
triunity1816
threeness1829
triadism1846
threesomeness1853
threefoldness1857
trinality1864
triality1872
triplenessc1881
trebleness1888
threefoldedness1905
1853 Athenæum 15 Oct. 1216 What may be called the threesomeness of everything in the moral world.
Draft additions June 2013
A group of three people involved in a sexual liaison or encounter; (also) an occasion on which three people engage in sexual activity together. Cf. ménage à trois n., troilism n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > other types of sexual activity or intercourse > [noun] > involving more than two people
gang-shag1927
threesome1936
daisy chain1941
gang-banging1949
gang-bang1950
troilism1951
clusterfuck1965
three-way1967
1936 C. Gevel tr. J. Le Clercq in Fiction Parade Apr. 725/2 The trio they had belonged to..might well have served to redeem..the..phrase ménage à trois. The third member of this threesome had been Roger Davreille.
1969 Times 31 May 19/3 Two Roses and a Goldenrod features father-daughter incest,..a bedroom threesome and other oddities too numerous to mention.
1977 Gay News 24 Mar. 14/4 These may include threesomes in which one or both partners bring home a person who is shared in bed.
1991 R. J. Stoller Porn 89 We've met..one person that we just recently had a threesome with, and it was the best experience I've ever had.
2001 Cosmopolitan Dec. 58 My boyfriend confessed that he thinks about having a threesome with me and another guy. Is he secretly gay?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.adv.1489