Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Three

Three (thrē) , adjective

[Old English þre, þreo, þri, Anglo-Saxon þrī, masc., þreó, fem. and neut.; akin to OFries. thre, Old Saxon thria, threa, Dutch drie, German drei, Old High German drī, Icelandic þrīr, Danish & Swedish tre, Gothic þreis, Lithuanian trys, Ir., Gael. & Welsh tri, Russ. tri, Latin tres, Greek trei^s, Sanskrit tri. r301. Compare 3d Drilling, Tern, a., Third, Thirteen, Thirty, Tierce, Trey, Tri-, Triad, Trinity, Tripod.]

One more than two; two and one.
I offer thee three things. — 2 Sam. xxiv. 12
Three solemn aisles approach the shrine. — Keble

Three is often joined with other words, forming compounds signifying divided into, composed of, or containing, three parts, portions, organs, or the like; as, three-branched, three-capsuled, three-celled, three-cleft, three-edged, three-foot, three-footed, three-forked, three-grained, three-headed, three-legged, three-mouthed, three-nooked, three-petaled, three-pronged, three-ribbed, three-seeded, three-stringed, three-toed, and the like.

Three , noun

1.
The number greater by a unit than two; three units or objects.
2.
A symbol representing three units, as 3 or iii.
Collocations (1)
Rule of three (Arithmetic) , See under Rule, n.