Emily Dickinson Lexicon

THREE, a. [Sax. threo, thri, thry and thrig; Sw. and Dan. tre; G. drei; D. drie; Fr. trois; It. tre; Sp. and L. tres; Gael. and W. tri; Gipsy, tre; Gr. τρεις; Sans. treja, tri. I know not the last radical, nor the primary sense of three. Owen, in his Welsh Dictionary, suggests that it signifies fixed, firm. But see Extricate and Trick. It is probably contracted from thrig.]

1. Two and one. I offer thee three things. 2 Sam. xxiv.
2. It is often used like other adjectives, without the noun to which it refers. Abishai – attained not to the first three. 2 Sam. xxiii.
3. Proverbially, a small number. Away, thou three-inched fool. Shak. [I believe obsolete.]