tierce

American  

[teers] / tɪərs /

noun

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

2. a cask or vessel holding this quantity.

3. Ecclesiastical. Also terce 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.).

4. Fencing. the third of eight defensive positions.

5. 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.

6. Obsolete. a third or third part.

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tierce British  

/ tɪəs /

noun

1. a variant of terce

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

3. cards a sequence of three cards in the same suit

4. an obsolete measure of capacity equal to 42 wine gallons

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Etymology

Origin of tierce

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French, feminine of tiers, from Latin tertius “third”; third

Example Sentences

Panting, with clenched teeth and tousled hair, Mary Radvanny and Sussanne Winghardy skillfully thrust and parried until a well-timed lunge in tierce pinked the Winghardy shoulder.

From Time Magazine Archive

In France, the postwar development of le tierce, a combination racing bet and lottery, which attracts 3,000,000 Frenchmen every Sunday, has made horse-track betting the country's fifth-largest industry.

From Time Magazine Archive

In his journal, he usually timed events by "tierce, vespers and compline, three of the canonical hours of prayer."

From Time Magazine Archive

Thereupon, incontinent they drove together, and with mighty strokes strove one against the other from the hour of tierce till it was nones.

From Aucassin & Nicolette And Other Mediaeval Romances and Legends by Mason, Eugene

Lochinvar depended on a low tierce guard with a sloping point, and reined his horse near, that his enemy might be prevented from closing with him on his left, or side of disadvantage.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)