Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Tertiary

Ter′ti·a·ry (tẽr′shĭ·ā·ry̆ or ·shȧ·ry̆), a. [L. tertiarius containing a third part, fr. tertius third: cf. F. tertiaire. See Tierce.] 1. Being of the third formation, order, or rank; third; as, a tertiary use of a word. Trench.

2. (Chem.) Possessing some quality in the third degree; having been subjected to the substitution of three atoms or radicals; as, a tertiary alcohol, amine, or salt. Cf. Primary, and Secondary.

3. (Geol.) Later than, or subsequent to, the Secondary.

4. (Zoöl.) Growing on the innermost joint of a bird's wing; tertial; — said of quills.

Tertiary age. (Geol.) See under Age, 8. — Tertiary color, a color produced by the mixture of two secondaries. "The so-called tertiary colors are citrine, russet, and olive." Fairholt. — Tertiary period. (Geol.) (a) The first period of the age of mammals, or of the Cenozoic era. (b) The rock formation of that period; — called also Tertiary formation. See the Chart of Geology. — Tertiary syphilis (Med.), the third and last stage of syphilis, in which it invades the bones and internal organs.

Ter′ti·a·ry, n.; pl. Tertiaries. 1. (R. C. Ch.) A member of the Third Order in any monastic system; as, the Franciscan tertiaries; the Dominican tertiaries; the Carmelite tertiaries. See Third Order, under Third. Addis & Arnold.

2. (Geol.) The Tertiary era, period, or formation.

3. (Zoöl.) One of the quill feathers which are borne upon the basal joint of the wing of a bird. See Illust. of Bird.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.