tierce

(obsolete) A third.

(religion, Roman Catholicism) Synonym of terce: the third canonical hour or its service.

(now historical) A measure of capacity equal to a third of a pipe, or a cask or other vessel holding such a quantity; a cask larger than a barrel, and smaller than a hogshead or a puncheon, in which wine or salt provisions, rice, etc., are packed for shipment.

(music) The third tone of the scale. See mediant.

(card games) A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king and queen is called tierce-major.

(fencing) The third defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at head height.

(heraldry) An ordinary that covers the left or right third of the field of a shield or flag.

(obsolete) 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.)