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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Trē'foil, n.

noun

n. [Fr. tréfle, O. Fr. tréfle, Pr. trefueit, Sp. trifolio, It. trifoglio, Lat. trifolium, from tres, tria, three, and folium, a leaf. Cf. FOIL and TRIFOLY.]

  1. (Bot.) A plant of many species of the genus Trifolium, which includes the white clover, red clover, &c.; — applied also to the Medicago lupulina, or nonesuch, cultivated for fodder.
  2. (Arch.) An ornament of three cusps in a circle, resembling three-leafed clover.