treble

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛbəl/
- Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛbəl

Etymology 1

PIE word
*tréyes

From Middle English treble, from Old French treble, from Latin triplus. Doublet of triple.

Adjective

treble (not comparable)

High in pitch.
Synonyms: high-pitched, strident
Antonym: bass
- 1957, Salinger, J[erome] D[avid], “Zooey”, in Franny and Zooey, published 1961:
  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.
(music) Pertaining to the highest singing voice or part in harmonized music; soprano.
(dated) Threefold, triple.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:triple
- 1697, Dryden, John, chapter 6, in The Aeneid by Virgil:
  A lofty tower, and strong on every side / With treble walls.
- 1837 Penny Cyclopedia, vol. 7, s.v. "Constantinople":
  The treble walls and ditches on the land side [...] diminish the extent of ground covered with houses.

Related terms

treble clef
treble-heading
treble staff

Adverb

treble (not comparable)

(dated) Trebly; triply.
Synonyms: thrice, threefold; see also Thesaurus:thrice
- 1623 (first performance), John Fletcher; William Rowley, “The Maid in the Mill”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
  Whose deserts might buy him treble

Noun

treble (plural trebles)

(music) The highest singing voice (especially as for a boy) or part in musical composition.
- 1959, The Musical quarterly - Volume 45, page xlvi:
  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.
- 1991, Blanche Gangwere, Music history during the Renaissance period, 1425-1520, page 25:
  The voices include a counter (always below the tenor), a countertenor (moving above and below the tenor), mene, treble, and quadreble.
- 2003, Willi Apel, Don Michael Randel, The Harvard Dictionary of Music, page 780:
  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.
(music) A person or instrument having a treble voice or pitch; a boy soprano.
The highest tuned in a ring of bells.
Any high-pitched or shrill voice or sound.
(dated) A threefold quantity or number; something having three parts or having been tripled.
(dated) A drink with three portions of alcohol; a triple
(darts) Any of the narrow areas enclosed by the two central circles on a dartboard, worth three times the usual value of the segment.
(sports) Three goals, victories, awards etc. in a given match or season.
- 2014, Jacob Steinberg, "Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian, 9 March 2014:
  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.

Translations

The highest singing voice (especially as for a boy) or part in musical composition

Bulgarian: дискант m (diskant)
Dutch: jongenssopraan m, knapensopraan m
Finnish: sopraano (fi)
German: Sopranstimme f, Sopran (de) m, Diskantstimme f, Diskant (de) m
Irish: tribil f
Russian: диска́нт (ru) (diskánt), сопра́но (ru) (sopráno)
Spanish: tiple (es) m
Swedish: diskant (sv) c

Any high-pitched or shrill voice or sound

Finnish: diskantti (fi)
German: ^{(please verify)} Höhen (de)
Swedish: diskant (sv) c

three titles in a given season

French: triplé (fr) m
German: Triple (de) n
Galician: triplete m
Portuguese: triplete m
Spanish: triplete m

Verb

treble (third-person singular simple present trebles, present participle trebling, simple past and past participle trebled)

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

Translations

to multiply by three

Bulgarian: утроявам (utrojavam)
Danish: tredoble
Dutch: verdrievoudigen (nl)
Finnish: kolminkertaistaa
French: tripler (fr)
Georgian: სამმაგდება (sammagdeba), გასამმაგება (gasammageba) (verbal noun)
German: verdreifachen (de)
Hungarian: megháromszoroz (hu)
Irish: méadaigh faoi thrí
Italian: triplicare (it)
Maori: tātoru
Norwegian:
Bokmål: tredoble
Nynorsk: tredobla, tredoble
Spanish: triplicar (es)
Swedish: tredubbla (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Swedish: ^{(please verify)} diskant (sv)

Noun

treble (plural trebles)

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

Anagrams

Belter, Beltre, Elbert, Lebert, belter

Old French

Etymology

From Latin triplus.

Adjective

treble m (oblique and nominative feminine singular treble)

treble; triple
- 1314, H. de Mondeville, Chirurgie, page 24, 3rd column, lines 9-12
  L'utilité […] est treble
  The usefulness […] is treble

Descendants

→ Middle English: treble
- English: treble

References

Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (treble)