treble

Etymology 1

PIE word *tréyes From Middle English treble, from Old French treble, from Latin triplus. Doublet of triple.

adj

1. High in pitch.
   He put his cigar in his mouth, and, with his right hand, up in the treble keys, he began to play, in octaves, the melody of a song called "The Kinkajou," which, somewhat notably, had shifted into and ostensibly out of popularity before he was born. 1957, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, “Zooey”, in Franny and Zooey, published 1961
2. (music) Pertaining to the highest singing voice or part in harmonized music; soprano.
3. (dated) Threefold, triple.
   A lofty tower, and strong on every side / With treble walls. 1697, John Dryden, chapter 6, in The Aeneid by Virgil
   Every subscriber of one penny per week, who is sixty years of age, or upwards, and under four-score, to be entitled to receive treble his subscription at the end of the year; that is, his own subscription, and twice as much more. 1806, The Orthodox Churchman’s Magazine and Review; or, A Treasury of Divine and Useful Knowledge, volume X, London: […] J. G. Barnard,[…], and sold by F[rancis,] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington,[…], page 140
   The treble walls and ditches on the land side … diminish the extent of ground covered with houses. 1837 Penny Cyclopedia, vol. 7, s.v. "Constantinople"

adv

1. (dated) Trebly; triply.

noun

1. (music) The highest singing voice (especially as for a boy) or part in musical composition.
   He starts out by saying that there are three sights, the mene, treble, and quadreble, but actually he discusses only two, the treble and quadreble, both of which are read at the transposition of an octave. 1959, The Musical quarterly - Volume 45, page xlvi
   The voices include a counter (always below the tenor), a countertenor (moving above and below the tenor), mene, treble, and quadreble. 1991, Blanche Gangwere, Music history during the Renaissance period, 1425-1520, page 25
   The counter involves transposition of the sighted note to the fifth below (for extremely low notes a twelfth), the mene and countertenor do not transpose, the treble transposes to the octave above, and the quadreble to the twelfth above. 2003, Willi Apel, Don Michael Randel, The Harvard Dictionary of Music, page 780
2. (music) A person or instrument having a treble voice or pitch; a boy soprano.
3. The highest tuned in a ring of bells.
4. Any high-pitched or shrill voice or sound.
5. (dated) A threefold quantity or number; something having three parts or having been tripled.
6. (dated) A drink with three portions of alcohol; a triple
7. (darts) Any of the narrow areas enclosed by the two central circles on a dartboard, worth three times the usual value of the segment.
8. (sports) Three goals, victories, awards etc. in a given match or season.
   As for City, a domestic treble is off the cards and they must haul themselves off the floor quickly with the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie against Barcelona on Wednesday. 9 March 2014, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, in The Guardian

verb

1. (transitive, dated) To multiply by three; to make into three parts, layers, or thrice the amount.
   German climate minister says speed of carbon cuts needs to be trebled [title] 2022-01-11, Kate Connolly, “German climate minister says speed of carbon cuts needs to be trebled”, in The Guardian
2. (intransitive, dated) To become multiplied by three or increased threefold.
3. (intransitive) To make a shrill or high-pitched noise.
4. (transitive) To utter in a treble key; to whine.
   He outrageously / (When I accused him) trebled his reply. 1618, George Chapman, A Hymn to Hermes

Etymology 2

noun

1. Alternative form of tribble (“frame for drying paper”)