tierce

[ teers ]

/ tɪərs /

noun

an old measure of capacity equivalent to one third of a pipe, or 42 wine gallons.

a cask or vessel holding this quantity.

Also terce. Ecclesiastical. the third of the seven canonical hours, or the service for it, originally fixed for the third hour of the day (or 9 a.m.).

Fencing. the third of eight defensive positions.

Piquet. a sequence of three cards of the same suit, as an ace, king, and queen (tierce major), or a king, queen, and jack (tierce minor).

Obsolete. a third or third part.

Nearby words

tiepin, tiepolo, tiepolo, giovanni battista, tier, tier table, tierce, tierce de picardie, tierced, tiercel, tierceron, tiered

Origin of tierce

1325–75; Middle English < Middle French, feminine of tiers < Latin tertius third

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tierce

He feinted suddenly inside the arm, deceiving the parade of tierce.
The Black Moth|Georgette Heyer
Cut-over and disengage in tierce is related in precisely the same way to counter-tierce.
Secrets of the Sword|Csar Lecat de Bazancourt
The Wine is gone in one hogshead and one tierce, marked & No.
Private letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 2 (of 2)|Edward Gibbon
Such a tierce in this way receives six hundred pounds of rice.
Travels Through North America, v. 1-2|Berhard Saxe-Weimar Eisenach

We saluted, fell into position and thrust simultaneously in tierce, parrying alike, then opened more seriously.
The Shoes of Fortune|Neil Munro

British Dictionary definitions for tierce

tierce

/ (tɪəs) /

noun

a variant of terce

the third of eight basic positions from which a parry or attack can be made in fencing

(tɜːs) cards a sequence of three cards in the same suit

an obsolete measure of capacity equal to 42 wine gallons

Word Origin for tierce

C15: from Old French, feminine of tiers third, from Latin tertius

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012