Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - tripoli

 geographical name  1. (or Arabic ?arabulus) (or ancient ~s) city & port NW Lebanon NNE of Beirut population 127,611  2. (or Arabic ?arabulus) (or ancient Oea) city & port NW Libya, its capital population 591,062  3. ~tania when it was one of the Barbary States  • ~tan adjective or noun TRIPOLI  noun  Etymology: French, from Tripoli, region of Africa  Date: circa 1601  1. an earth consisting of very friable soft schistose deposits of silica and including diatomite and kieselguhr  2. an earth consisting of friable dustlike silica not of diatomaceous origin