Noun

1. A Russian carriage drawn by a team of three horses abreast
   • 1842, 1880: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Book XII Ch. VI, Constance Garnett translation.

     "A great writer of the last epoch, comparing Russia to a swift troika galloping to an unknown goal, exclaims 'Oh, troika, birdlike troika, who invented thee!' and adds, in proud ecstasy, that all the peoples of the world stand aside respectfully to make way for the recklessly galloping troika to pass."

2. A party of three
   • 1981: Martin Cruz Smith, Gorky Park

     The investigator suspected the poor dead bastards were just a vodka troika that had cheerily frozen to death.