TIERCE

n. a.

7 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
n.

A cask whose content is one third of a pipe; that is, forty-two wine gallons; also, a liquid measure of forty-two wine, or thirty- five imperial, gallons.

2.
n.

A cask larger than a barrel, and smaller than a hogshead or a puncheon, in which salt provisions, rice, etc., are packed for shipment.

3.
n.

The third tone of the scale. See Mediant.

4.
n.

A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king, queen, is called tierce-major.

5.
n.

A position in thrusting or parrying in which the wrist and nails are turned downward.

6.
n.

The third hour of the day, or nine a.m.; one of the canonical hours; also, the service appointed for that hour.

7.
a.

Divided into three equal parts of three different tinctures; -- said of an escutcheon.


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