trifidadj.n.

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Leaf.

1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. ii. ix. 92 Such as have Trifid Corollæ.

1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 320 The tail is naturally bifid, but in many is trifid.

1872 St. G. Mivart Lessons Elem. Anat. ii. 50 In the Howling Monkeys we find a trifid spine.

1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Sept. 692 As far back as 1800 Pliny Moody had observed trifid markings upon sandstones.

1871 J. Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue viii. 417 In that chapter the third section assumed a trifid form.

1902 Sat. Rev. 6 Dec. 711/1 The old trifid division of mammals.

1892 C. J. Jackson in Archaeologia 53 i. 138 The stem of this [Puritan] spoon is as wide as that of the trifid-ended form which immediately succeeded it.

1911 C. J. Jackson Illustr. Hist. Eng. Plate II. xvii. 521 The earliest Trifid Spoon known to the author is one bearing the Dublin hallmarks for 1663.

1927 N. Gask Old Silver Spoons of Eng. ix. 96 (heading) Lobed-ends, variously called Trifids, Trefoils, Split-ends or Pieds-de-Biche.

1932 Antique Collector Nov. 394/1 The Trifid type of handle, introduced with the Restoration, appears to have been evolved in turn from the Puritan.

1952 G. E. P. How Eng. & Sc. Silver Spoons I. ii. xiv. 325 The Trefid Spoon, in its fully~developed form, was apparently introduced to London from the Continent at the Restoration of the Monarchy.

1956 G. Taylor Silver v. 111 The so-called Puritan spoon seems to be the starting-point for more decorative developments. The plain square end was hammered out into a thin leaf-shaped blade which is most commonly notched on either side of the pointed end to form a simple trefoil... Such spoons are therefore described as ‘trefid’ (or ‘trifid’)... Larger trefid spoons with the same characteristics, but a much longer stem, are found.

1974 Country Life 14 Nov. 1447/1 Spoons ranging from 1661 to 1718..include..split-ended rat-tails or treffid spoons.

1977 J. Fleming & H. Honour Penguin Dict. Decorative Arts 802/1 Trifid or Trefid spoon, a c17 English type of spoon with a flat handle widening towards the end which is divided into three parts by deep notches.