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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TRES-ACE, n. 1. A variety of the game of catch played much like ‘Musical chairs' (see 1825 quot.).Sc. 1764 Boswell Grand Tour, Germany, etc. (Pottle 1953) 262:
We returned to the hall, and played at vaut rien, the same with tres-ace in Scotland.
Fif. 1825 Jam.:
Tres-Ace. A game in which generally six are engaged; one taking a station before, two about twelve yards behind him, three twelve yards behind these two. One is the catch-pole. Never more can remain at any post than three; the supernumerary one must always shift and seek a new station. If the catch-pole can get in before the person who changes his station, he has the right to take his place, and the other becomes pursuer. The design of the game which is played in the fields, and often by those on the harvest-field, is for putting them in heat when the weather is cold.

2. In phr. in a tres-ace, in an instant, with no more ado.Sc. 1795 Scots Mag. (Nov.) 719:
My spirits that for four months lang Had ta'en the gie, Lap in a tres-ace on the fang At strike o' thee [a bell].

[A variant of Eng. trey, the three at dice or cards, from the arrangement of the players in 1. in groups of three, O. Fr. trei, treis, from the latter of which the -s may come For 2. cf. †Eng. phr. ere you can say trey-ace, “before you can say Jack Robinson”, trey ace being a throw of dice that turns up three with one and ace with the other.]

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"Tres-ace n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/tresace>

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