trithing

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English *þriðing, from Old Norse þriðjungr (“third part”).

Noun

trithing (plural trithings)

(historical) One of three ancient divisions of a county in England; a riding.
- 1771, Blackstone, William, Sir, “Of the Countries Subject to the Laws of England”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England‎, volume 1, page 116:
  Where a county is divided into three of these intermediate jurisdictions, they are called trithings, which were antiently governed by a trithing-reeve. These trithings still subsist in the large county of York, where by an easy corruption they are denominated ridings; the north, the east, and the west-riding.

Derived terms

riding (“administrative division”), trithing-mote, trithing-reeve

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for trithing in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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