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Tri vs Quad - What's the difference?

tri | quad |

As a numeral tri

is three.

As a preposition tri

is through.

As a noun quad is

(informal) a quadrangle (courtyard) or quad can be (metal type) a blank metal block used to fill short lines of type.

As an adjective quad is

having four shots of espresso.

As a verb quad is

(metal type|transitive|intransitive) to fill spaces in a line of type with quads also quad out .

tri

English

Noun

  • (chiefly, attributive) triathlon
  • a tri bike
    a tri suit
    ----

    quad

    English

    (wikipedia quad)

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (informal) A quadrangle (courtyard).
  • *2014 , Walker Orenstein, for Norwest Asian Weekly, Cherry trees from Japan to grace UW campus :
  • *:Every spring, the quad on the University of Washington (UW) campus transforms from a peaceful green space to a bustling habitat for hundreds of shuttering cameras, families, and onlookers.
  • (informal) A quadruplet (infant).
  • short for quadrilateral
  • (informal) A quadriceps muscle.
  • Four shots of espresso.
  • A quad bike.
  • (chess) A kind of round robin tournament between four players, where each participant plays every other participant once.
  • (Mormonism) The Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price bound in a single volume.
  • Derived terms
    * quad bike * quad strip * quad ruled * quaddie

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Having four shots of espresso.
  • (poker slang) Of or relating to .
  • See also

    * quadr-, quadri- * quadru- * quin

    Etymology 2

    1785 Quads.'' pl, 1847 ''quads , verb 1876. From the abbreviation , for obsolete quadrat. Keyboard command is named for the verb sense.

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (metal type) A blank metal block used to fill short lines of type.
  • * 1853 , , “Household Words”, n 160 (April 16), p 148:
  •  “Quadrats, sir. We call 'em quads'.” . . . ' Quads are the spaces left between the paragraphs that come white on the paper. If you look here, at this page that is set-up, you will see that they are deeper than the spaces left between the words and letters—regular little trenches.
  • * 1979 , Marshall Lee, Bookmaking , p 110:
  • Horizontal spacing is further divided into multiples and fractions of the em. The multiples are called quads'' . The fractions are called ''spaces .
  • * 2005 , Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam, Type & Typography , 2nd ed, p 91:
  • Other larger spaces – known as quads – were used to space out lines.
  • A joke used to fill long days of setting type.
  • (typography, phototypesetting and digital typesetting) A keyboard command which aligns text with the left or right margin, or centred between them. In combination, as quad left, quad right'' or ''quad centre .
  • Synonyms
    * em space * quadrat (obsolete)
    Derived terms
    * em quad, * en quad * mutton quad * quad center/quad centre, quad left, quad middle, quad right

    Verb

  • (metal type, transitive, intransitive) To fill spaces in a line of type with quads. Also quad out .
  • (typography, phototypesetting and digital typesetting, transitive, intransitive) To align text with the left or right margin, or centre it.
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