tierce
/ˈtɪɚs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.52 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Synonym of terce: the third canonical hour or its service.
noun
A cask of a certain size, or its volume used as a measure of capacity. Larger than a barrel but smaller than a hogshead.
noun
A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king and queen is called tierce-major.
noun
The third defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
noun
One sixtieth of a second, i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system. (Also known as a third.)
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "He then gave me a large piece of silver coin, such as I never had seen or had before, and told me to get ready for the voyage, and he would credit me with a tierce of sugar, and another of rum […]."
- "Have an eye to the molasses tierce, Mr. Stubb; it was a little leaky, I thought."
- "Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons."
- "[W]e behold two men with lion-look, with alert attitude, side foremost, right foot advanced; flourishing and thrusting, stoccado and passado, in tierce and quart; intent to skewer one another."
Etymology
From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: tierce, tertius
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɪɚs/
- British English: /ˈtɪəs/