tertenant

See terre - tenant. tertial (ter's hal), a. and n. [L.* tertial is, II. n. A tertiary flight-feather; one of the pennæ, or large feathers, of a bird's wing of the third set, which grow on the elbow or upper arm; one of the tertiaries. The word was intended to signify only the third set of flight-feathers, in the same relation to the humerus that the secondaries bear to the ulna, and the primaries to the manus; but in practice two or three of the innermost secondaries are called tertials when in any way distinguished from the rest. Also tertiary, tertiary feather. See cuts under bird1 and covert, n., 6. The two or three longer innermost true secondaries, growing upon the very elbow, are often incorrectly called tertials , especially when distinguished by size, shape, or color from the rest of the secondaries. Coues , Key to N. A. Birds, p. 113. tertian (ter's han), a . and n. [I. a . ter cian, tertian us , of the third (day), tertius , third: see terce. II. n. tercian , terciane , tertiane = Sp. terciana = Pg. terçãa , tertian a (sc. febris ), a tertian fever, fem. of tertian us , of the third (day): see I.] I. а . Осcurring every second day: as, a tertian fever. If it do, I dar wel leye a grote That ye shul have a fevere terciane . Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 139. Double tertian fever. See feverl. - Tertian ague, intermittent fever with a paroxysm every other day. - Tertian fever. See fever1. II. n. 1. A fever or other disease whose paroxysms return after a period of two days, or on the third day, reckoning both days of consecutive occurrence; an intermittent whose paroxysms occur after intervals of about forty The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: The Century dictionary tertian By how much a hectic fever is harder to be cured than a tertian,. by so much is it harder to prevail upon a triumphing lust than upon its first insinuations. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 110. 2. In organ - building, a stop consisting of a tierce and a larigot combined.-31. A measure of 84 gallons, the third part of tun. Statute IMG:content-0138.jpg:[blocks in formation] The lawe and peace he kepte, and conserued, Which him vpheld, that he was neuer ouer terued. J. Hardyng, Chron. of Eng. (ed. Ellis, 1812), p. 75. tertiate (ter's hi-āt), v . t.; pret. and pp. terti- ated , ppr. tertia ting . [ tertiatus , pp. of ter- tiare , do every third day, do for the third time, tertius , third: see terce.] 1. To do for the 2. To turn down or back; roll or fold over. third time. Johnson.-2. In gun ., to examine, tervee, v. See tervy . [Rare.] tertiary (ter's hi-ā-ri), a. and n. [= F. tertiaire = Sp. tercero = Pg. terceiro = It. terziario, In a word, in proportion as the age of a tertiary formation is more modern, so also is the resemblance greater of its fo il shells to the testaceous fauna of the actual seas. Lyell , Elements of Geology (1st ed., 1838), p. 283. 3. In ornith., same as tertial : distinguished from secondary and from primary. See cuts under bird1 and covert , n., 6.-4. [ cap . or l. c.] Belonging or pertaining to the Tertiaries. See II. ( b ). Guido buried him [Dante] with due care in a stone urn in the burying ground of the Francis cans, who loved him, and in whose tertiary habit he was shrouded in the supreme hour. N. and Q., 7th ser., XI. 289. or third in order or succe ion. Specifically (a) [cap.] In geol., that part of the series of geological formations which lies above the Mesozoic or Secondary and below the Quaternary; the "Cenozoic" of some authors, while others include in this division both Tertiary and Quaternary. The term Tertiary belongs to an early period in the history of geology, the entire series having been divided into Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. The term transition was afterward introduced (see transition ), and Quaternary still later; but the Quaternary has been considered by some as being rather a subdivision of the Tertiary, since it seems to have been of relatively short duration, and not anywhere preceded by any break to be compared in importance with that which in various regions characterizes the pa age from Mesozoic to Tertiary. The Tertiary was divided by Lyell into three groups or systems, the basis of this cla ification being the percentage of living species of Mollusca in each group; these divisions were designated by him as the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, to which a fourth was added later by Beyrich, namely the Oligocene, intercalated between the Eocene and Miocene. This scheme of subdivision is still accepted as convenient and philosophical, although strict regard is not paid to the precise percentages of living species indicated by Lyell. The subdivisions of these larger divisions which have been found nece ary in different regions vary considerably in number and character. The break between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary in northwestern Europe is, on the whole, very marked in character; in various other parts of the world it is much le apparent. The more important and striking features of the Tertiary may be very concisely summed up as follows: evidence of the greatly increasing importance of the surface of the land as compared with that of the water, as shown by the local and detrital character, and the small and rapidly varying thickne , of the deposits, together with the rapidly increasing development of a land-fauna and-flora; the uplifting of the great mountain-chains of the globe, an operation performed on a gigantic scale, some parts of the early Tertiary having been raised to an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet above the sea-level; the almost entire disappearance of many of those forms of animal life which were prominent during the Mesozoic epoch, as of the cephalopods, the gigantic reptiles, and especially the development of the Mammal i a in ever-increasing numbers and diversity of type; the very much diminished importance both as respects numbers and size of many of those forms of vegetable life which were most prominent in pre-Tertiary times, such as the ferns, the lycopods, and the cycads, and the development of modern forest vegetation, in which the dicotyledonous angio. sperms play a very important part; the zonal distribution of life and climate; the evidence, furnished in abundance in various parts of the world, of a marked diminution in temperature going on through Tertiary times, the proof of which, if begun before the Tertiary, could only be obtained with great difficulty, if at all, owing to the small relative importance of the land-areas; and, finally, the appearance of man upon the earth, an event which took place, so far as is known from present available evidence, some time before the close of the Pliocene. See also Post tertiary, Quaternary, and recent, 4. (b) [ cap. ] A member of the third order ( tertius ordo de pœnitentia ) of monastic bodies. An order of this kind was first organized by St. Fran done with a pair of caliper compa es. as to free. Hall i well. [Prov. Eng.] To tertiate a piece of ordnance is to examine the thickteryt, a. A Middle English spelling of teary . ne of the metal, in order to judge of its strength, the position of the trunnions, etc. Wilhelm, Mil. Dict. tertium quid (ter's hi-um kwid). [L.: tertium, neut. of tertius, third; quid, something, somewhat, neut. of indef. pronoun quis, somebody: see what, who.] 1. Something neither mind nor matter; especially, an idea regarded as not a mere modification of the mind nor a purely external thing in itself. Hence-2. Something mediating between e entially opposite things. tertium sal (ter's hi-um sal). [L.: tertium, neut. of tertius, third; sal, salt.] In old chem., a neutral salt, as being the product of an acid and an alkali, making a third substance different from either.