Dictionary

thrain en · NUM · etymology 1

Etymology

Blend of three + twain.

Meanings

1. (humorous, nonstandard, often) Three, as coordinate term to (and used in similar sentences to) twain.
   • […] twain - yes, they used old words and proverbs and catch-phrases and slogans when they did not wish to face reality - shall meet, because if the twain, or the thrain, or the quain, or the multain complications of life, and love[…] 1959, Christine Brooke-Rose, The Sycamore Tree:
   • I am torn in twain, thrain, and quatrain![…] 2020 July 14, Eric Darton, Free City, Deep Vellum Publishing, →ISBN:
   • "[The] twain meet—or is that thrain?" "That's brilliant!" I said. 1996, Alexis Page, Three-guy Weekend, Bantam Books for Young Readers, →ISBN:
   • […] sink me ship, master gunner, sink her, split her in twain—or thrain, if you feel like it. Don't bother about anything else; she's your bird. 2011 11, Stephen Brennan, The Best War Stories Ever Told, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., →ISBN, page 535:
   • "Tis not an omen, but an assassin, Banh." […] "A thing may be twain or thrain at once, my student." 2019 October 15, S. C. Emmett, The Throne of the Five Winds, Orbit, →ISBN:
   • Or, all the churches give up their names and get married in a union organization—the twain (or "thrain") becoming one flesh. None of these things occurred at Pepperell. 1921, Preacher and Homiletic Monthly, page 205:

thrain en · NOUN · etymology 2

Meanings

1. (alt-of, dated, pronunciation-spelling) Pronunciation spelling of train, representing Ireland English.
   alt of representing Ireland English
   alt of train
   • ... wud a hundred sogers to help him out in the job he had in hand. He landed afther a good voyage in the harbor of Cork, an' at wance he put matthers in thrain. 1904, Justin McCarthy, Maurice Francis Egan, Charles Welsh, Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory, James Jeffrey Roche, Irish Literature: Daunt, page 912:
   • […] Tunis an' Thripoli, figs from Turkey, […] transported outa the sun by bullock or mule, in thrain an' boat to the wind-swept streets o' Dublin;[…] 1956, Sean O'Casey, Mirror in My House: The Autobiographies of Sean O'Casey:
   • "[…] the two-o'clock thrain?" "Yes," was the sleepy reply from within." 1896, Life, page 466:

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