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trefoil

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
trefoil (trē`foil) [O.Fr.,=three-leaf], in botany, name for several plants, chiefly of the pulse pulse, in botany, common name for members of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae), a large plant family, called also the pea, or legume, family. Numbering about 650 genera and 17,000 species, the family is third largest, after the asters and the orchids.
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 family, having trifoliate leaves. Best known of the trefoils is clover. The bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) is an Old World forage plant and weed that has been naturalized in North America; the prairie trefoil (L. americanus) is a related native American plant. The shrubby trefoil is the hop hop, herbaceous perennial vine of the family Moraceae ( mulberry family), widely cultivated since early times for brewing purposes. The commercial hop (Humulus lupulus
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 tree. Tick trefoil is a name for the tickseed, or beggarweed beggarweed or tick trefoil, leguminous plant (Desmodium purpureum) native to the West Indies and sown in the S United States for green manure and for forage; it has high nutritive value and is palatable to stock.
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trefoil
1. any of numerous leguminous plants of the temperate genus Trifolium, having leaves divided into three leaflets and dense heads of small white, yellow, red, or purple flowers
2. any of various related plants having leaves divided into three leaflets, such as bird's-foot trefoil
3. a leaf having three leaflets
4. Architect an ornament in the form of three arcs arranged in a circle

trefoil (clover)
emblem of the Trinity. [Christian Symbolism: Cirlot, 50–51]
See : Trinity

trefoil
traditional symbol of vengeance. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 178]
See : Vengeance


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Baked by Little Brownie Bakers, the cookies are available in eight flavors -- Samoas (the most popular flavor in this area), Thin Mints (the most popular flavor nationwide), Trefoils, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos, All Abouts, Cafe Cookies and Sugar Free Little Brownies, which are new this year.
The geometry of the helix dictates the clover-leaf trefoil plan, prompting obvious comparisons with the sinuous spiral of New York's Guggenheim.
The New York Chinatown-authorized show of counterfeit trefoils was truly outstanding.
 
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