Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A vehicle, used especially by small children, that has three wheels, one at the front and two at the back, and is usually propelled by pedals.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A three-wheeled vehicle.
- noun A three-wheeled coach. See the quotation.
- noun A modification of the velocipede or bicycle, having three wheels. The wheels are variously arranged, as two in front and one behind, or the reverse. Tricycles are made for one or two persons; in the latter case the riders sit either side by side or one before the other. Compare
bicycle . - To ride on a tricycle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A three-wheeled velocipede. See
Illust. undervelocipede . Cf.bicycle .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A cycle with three wheels, powered by pedals and usually intended for young children.
- verb To ride a tricycle.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a vehicle with three wheels that is moved by foot pedals
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I take it the term tricycle 'does not apply to the Real; the Real is not a tricycle.
Warranted Christian Belief 1932- 2000
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If you are younger than 33, I was riding fixed before you were....its called a tricycle bitches!
BSNYC Friday Fun Quiz: Special Palate-Cleansing Edition BikeSnobNYC 2008
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A tricycle is of course inherently stable, and a bicycle has a kind of stability when moving.
Councils of War 2002
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A tricycle is of course inherently stable, and a bicycle has a kind of stability when moving.
Councils of War 2002
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So long as the tricycle was a crude and clumsy machine, there was no chance of cycling becoming a part, as it almost is and certainly soon will be, of our national life.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884 Various
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Hitherto one of the chief objections to the use of the tricycle has been the great difficulty experienced in climbing hills, a very slight ascent being sufficient to tax the powers of the rider to such an extent as to induce if not compel him in most instances to dismount and wheel his machine along by hand until more favorable ground is reached.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 433, April 19, 1884 Various
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"He means a blood horse," explained Lynn in a low tone; "he always pretends his tricycle is a race-horse."
In the Mist of the Mountains Ethel Sybil Turner 1915
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Palomino says the attackers used at least 88 pounds 40 kilograms of the explosive Pentonite on what officials describe as a "tricycle bomb."
The Seattle Times 2012
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A 777 has a so-called tricycle layout for the landing gear.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
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A 777 has a so-called tricycle layout for the landing gear.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
treeseed commented on the word tricycle
The word tricycle has been in use since the early 19th century and stems from the Greek tri (treia), meaning three, and kyklos, meaning a circle or wheel. The abbreviation trike has been in use since 1883.
The most common type of tricycle today is the child's toy pedal tricycle.
_Wikipedia
February 12, 2008