Triarii. In the Roman legions, consisted of veteran soldiers, who formed the third line in the order of battle.
Triballi. A powerful people in Thrace, a branch of the Getæ dwelling along the Danube, who were defeated by Alexander the Great in 335 B.C., and obliged to sue for peace.
Tribune. In Roman antiquity, an officer or magistrate chosen by the people, to protect them from the oppression of the patricians or nobles, and to defend their liberties against any attempts that might be made upon them by the senate and consuls. The tribunes were at first two, but their number was increased ultimately to ten. There were also military tribunes, officers of the army, of whom there were from four to six in each legion.
Tribute. An annual or stated sum of money or other valuable thing, paid by one prince or nation to another, either as an acknowledgment of submission, or as the price of peace and protection, or by virtue of some treaty; as the Romans made their conquered countries pay tribute.
Trichinopoly. Capital of the district of the same name, of British India; in the presidency of Madras. It is pretty strongly fortified by walls about 2 miles in circuit, lofty, thick, and in some places double. There is also a fort built on a sienite rock about 600 feet high. Two or 3 miles southwest of the town is a large cantonment, containing barracks for a large number of troops. Trichinopoly was subject to a Hindoo rajah until 1732, when the nabob of Arcot gained possession of it; and in 1741 he was in turn dispossessed by the Mahrattas. During the wars between the French and English, the place was much contested; and in 1757, when besieged by the former, it was relieved by the rapid march of an English force under Capt. Calliaud.
Trick. A term used in heraldry to denote a mode of representing arms by sketching them in outline, and appending letters to express the tinctures, and sometimes numerals to indicate the repetition of changes.
Trident. In Roman antiquity, a three-pronged spear used in the contests of gladiators by the retiarius.
Triest, or Trieste (anc. Tergeste, or Tergestum). The principal seaport city of the Austrian empire, in Illyria, on the Gulf of Triest at the northeast extremity of the Adriatic Sea, 73 miles east-northeast of Venice. The ancient Tergeste first received historical mention in 51 B.C., when it was overrun and plundered by neighboring tribes. It owes its prosperity chiefly to the emperor Charles VI., who constituted it a free port, and to Maria Theresa. In 1797 and in 1805, it was taken by the French.
Trigger. A steel catch, which being pulled disengages the cock of a gunlock, and causes the hammer to strike the nipple in percussion-muskets, and the firing-pin in breech-loaders. The difference between a hair and common trigger is this: the hair-trigger, when set, lets off the cock at the slightest touch, whereas the common trigger requires a greater degree of force, and consequently its operation is retarded.
Trim. The chief town of the county of Meath, Ireland, on the Boyne, 27 miles northwest from Dublin. It was taken by Cromwell in 1649.