Definition of "thrice"
thrice
adverb
not comparable
(dated, rare, humorous) Three times.
Quotations
Thrice ore the caddow I mine armes outſpred: / Thrice did I fall, before I once could riſe: / Leaning vpon mine elbow for a reſt, / Nodding, I knockt my chin againſt my breſt. // Then ſigh’d, ſlipt downe, and twixt the ſheete and pillow / I nuzled in, joyn’d knees and chin together: / I dream’d I wore a garland of greene willow. / But ſnuffling low, I prickt me with a fether; / So wakt, the bolſter for my backe I choſe, / And yawning thrice, I rub’d mine eyes and roſe.
1601, Io[hn] Weeuer [i.e., John Weever], The Mirror of Martyrs, or The Life and Death of that Thrice Valiant Captaine, and Most Godly Martyre Sir Iohn Old-castle Knight Lord Cobham, [London]: Printed by V[alentine] S[immes] for William Wood
The weyward Siſters, hand in hand, / Poſters of the Sea and Land, / Thus doe goe, about, about, / Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, / And thrice againe, to make vp nine, / Peace, the Charme’s wound vp.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii], page 132, column 1
How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread thoſe ſteps thrice over, which I needed not to have trod but once: Yea, now alſo I am like to be benighted, for the day is almoſt ſpent.
1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […]; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, page 47
Once, twice, thrice, I met Young Lubin on the Green, / once, twice, thrice, Young Lubin he met me, / the firſt time I beheld the Lad he made a humble bow, / I bluſh'd and hung my ſilly head and felt I don't know how, […]
, [James] Hook, Once, Twice, Thrice, Sung with Great Applause by Mrs. Bland at Vauxhall Gardens, London: Printed for J. Dale, […], stanza 1, pages 4–5
Roger Wildrake, also, who had twice or thrice put to his eyes what remained of a kerchief, interested by the lady's evident distress, though unable to comprehend the mysterious cause, hastened to assist the divine in supporting so fair a burthen.
1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, page 107
And then he [Bedivere] threw the sword into the water as far as he might, and there came an arm and a hand above the water, and met it and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished. And then the hand vanished away with the sword in the water.
1918, Thomas Malory, “The Sword Excalibur”, in William Patten, compiler, Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry (The Junior Classics; IV), New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son Corporation, page 29
Seven hours after giving birth […] Kate [Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge] gave the world a first glimpse of their third child, a new Prince of Cambridge. […] Minutes after the brief photocall, the couple headed home with William [the Duke of Cambridge] emerging with his son in a car seat and holding Kate’s hand. “Thrice the worry now,” a smiling William said, holding up three fingers.
2018 April 24, Richard Palmer, “Royal baby: ‘Thrice the worry now!’: Prince William captures the reality of parenthood”, in The Sunday Express, London, archived from the original on 15 June 2018