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tierce

1. A cask whose content is one third of a pipe; that is, forty-two wine gallons; also, a liquid measure of forty-two wine, or thirty-five imperial, gallons.

2. A cask larger than a barrel, and smaller than a hogshead or a puncheon, in which salt provisions, rice, etc, are packed for shipment.

3. The third tone of the scale. See Mediant.

4. A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king, queen, is called tierce-major.

5. A position in thrusting or parrying in which the wrist and nails are turned downward.

6. The third hour of the day, or nine a.m.; one of the canonical hours; also, the service appointed for that hour.

Origin: F. Tierce a third, from tiers, tierce, third, fr. L. Tertius the third; akin to tres three. See Third, Three, and cf. Terce, Tercet, Tertiary.