Tre"ble (?), a. [OE. treble threefold, OF. treble, treible, L. triplus.
See Triple.] 1. Threefold; triple.
A lofty tower, and strong on every side With treble walls.
Dryden.
2. (Mus.) (a) Acute; sharp; as, a treble sound. Bacon. (b) Playing or
singing the highest part or most acute sounds; playing or singing the
treble; as, a treble violin or voice.
Tre"ble, adv. Trebly; triply. [Obs.] J. Fletcher.
Tre"ble, n. [" It has been said to be a corruption of triplum [Lat.], a
third part, superadded to the altus and bassus (high and low)." Grove.]
(Mus.) The highest of the four principal parts in music; the part
usually sung by boys or women; soprano.
This is sometimes called the first treble, to distinguish it from the
second treble, or alto, which is sung by lower female voices.
Tre"ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trebled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Trebling.] 1.
To make thrice as much; to make threefold. "Love trebled life."
Tennyson.