we three
Preserved but no longer current.
"Did you never see the picture of We ThreeT' asks Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Twelfth Night, ii, 3) — not meaning himself, Sir Toby Belch, and the clown, but referring to a public-house sign of Two Loggerheads, with the inscription, "We three loggerheads be," the third being the spectator.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “we three” mean?
"Did you never see the picture of We ThreeT' asks Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Twelfth Night, ii, 3) — not meaning himself, Sir Toby Belch, and the clown, but referring to a public-house sign of Two Loggerheads, with the inscription, "We three loggerheads be," the third being the spectator.
Is “we three” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.