tertian 
By how much u hectic fever is harder to ho cured than 
a tertian, . . . by BO much U It harder to prevail upon a 
triumphing lust than upon its tlrsi insinuations. 
fer. Tmiliir. orks (ed. 1HS5X I. 110. 
2. In iirj/ini-liiiililiiiii, a stop consisting of a 
tierce and a larigot combined. 3f. A measure 
of 84 gallon-., ih.' third part of a tun. Xtutittr 
af Ili'iinj VI. 4. A curve of the third order. 
[Rare.] 
third : see tertian.'] I. a. 1 . Of the third order, 
rank, or formation; third. 2. [Usually cap.] 
In f/il.. <>!', pertaining to, or occurring in the 
Tertiary. See II. (a). 
In a word, in proportion as the age of a tertiary forma, 
tlon is more inudurn, so also is the resemblance greater 
of Its fossil shells to the testaceous fauna of the actual 
seas. Lyell, Elements of Geology (1st ed., 1838), p. 283. 
3. In in-ill Hi., game as tertial: distinguished 
from Kecondnry and from primary. See cuts 
under bird 1 and covert, ., 6. 4. [cap. or I. c.~\ 
Belonging or pertaining to the Tertiaries. See 
II. (b). 
Ouido burled him [Dante] with due care in a stone urn 
in the burying ground of the Franciscans, who loved him, 
and in whose tertiary habit he was shrouded in the su- 
preme hour. V and Q., 7th ser., XI. 389. 
Tertiary alcohol. See alcohol, s. Tertiary color, a 
color produced by the mixture of two secondary colors, 
as citrine, ruset, or olive. See II. (cX Tertiary fea- 
ther. Same as tertial. Tertiary syphilis. See syphilis. 
II. n. One who or that which is tertiary, 
or third in order or succession. Specifically 
(a) [cop.] In geol., that part of the series of geological 
formations which lies above the Mesozolc or Secondary 
and below the Quaternary ; the " Caenozoic " of some au- 
thors, while others include in this division both Tertiary 
and Quaternary. The term Tertiary belongs to an early 
period In the history of geology, the entire series having 
been divided Into Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. The 
term transition was afterward introduced (see transition), 
and Quaternary still later; hut the Quaternary has been 
considered by some as being rather a subdivision of the 
Tertiary, since It seems to have been of relatively short 
duration, and not anywhere preceded by any break to 
be compared In importance with that wnich in various 
regions characterizes the passage from Mesozolc to Ter- 
tiary. The Tertiary was divided by Lyell into three groups 
or systems, the basis of this classification being the per- 
centage of living species of MoUusca in each group ; these 
divisions were designated by him as the Eocene. Mio- 
cene, and Pliocene, to which a fourth was added later 
by Beyrich, namely the Oligocene, intercalated between 
the Eocene and Miocene. This scheme of subdivision is 
still accepted as convenient and philosophical, although 
strict regard is not paid to the precise percentages of liv- 
ing species indicated by Lyell. The subdivisions of these 
larger divisions which have been found necessary in dif- 
ferent regions vary considerably in number and charac- 
ter. The break between the Cretaceous and the Tertiary 
in northwestern Europe is, on the whole, very marked in 
character ; in various other parts of the world it is much 
less apparent The more Important and striking features 
of the Tertiary may be very concisely summed up aa fol- 
lows : evidence of the greatly increasing importance of the 
surface of the land as compared with that of the water, as 
shown by the local and detrital character, and the small 
and rapidly varying thickness, of the deposits, together 
with the rapidly increasing development of a land-fauna 
and -flora ; the uplifting of the great mountain-chains of 
the i'h ii.r. an operation performed on a gigantic scale, 
gome parts of the early Tertiary having been raised to 
an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet above the sea-level ; the 
almost entire disappearance of many of those forms of 
animal life which were prominent during the Mesozoic 
epoch, as of the cephalopoda, the gigantic reptiles, and 
especially the development of the Mammalia in ever-in- 
creasing numbers and diversity of type; the very much 
diminished importance both as respects numbers and 
size of many of those forms of vegetable life which were 
most prominent in pre-Tertlary times, such as the ferns, 
the lyeopods, and the cycads, and the development of mod- 
ern forest vegetation, in which the dicotyledonous angio- 
sperms play a very important part ; the zonal distribution 
of life and climate ; the evidence, furnished in abundance 
in various parts of the world, of a marked diminution in 
temperature going on through Tertiary times, the proof 
of which, if begun before the Tertiary, could only be ob- 
tained with great difficulty, if at all, owing to the small 
relative Importance of the land-areas ; and, finally, the 
appearance of man upon the earth, an event which took 
place, so far as is known from present available evidence, 
some time before the close of the Pliocene. See also Post* 
tertiary. Quaternary, and recent, 4. (b) [cop. ] A member of 
the third order(terri w ordo de p<enitentia) of monastic bod- 
ies. An order of this kind was first organized by St. Fran- 
cis of Assisi. It was instituted as a sort of middle term 
between the world and the cloister, and members were re- 
quired to dress more soberly, fast more strictly, pray more 
regularly, hear mass more frequently, and practise works 
of mercy more systematically than ordinary persons living 
in the world. The Dominicans also have their third order, 
and the example was followed by various other monastic 
bodies. 
The Order of St. Francis had, and of necessity, its Terti- 
aries, like that of St. Dominic. 
Milman, Latin Christianity, ix. 10. 
(c) A color, as russet, citrine, or olive, produced by the mix- 
ture of two secondary colors. Tertiaries are grays, and 
are either red-gray, blue-gray, or yellow-gray when these 
primaries are in excess, or violet-gray, orange-gray, or 
green-gray when these secondaries :iru in OM-I-SS. Fair- 
holt, (d) Same as tertial. 
(1-J40 
tertiate (U-r'shi-at), c. /. ; pret. and pp. terti- 
ated, ppr. tcrtiathii/. [< L. trrtiiitus, pp. of ter- 
tian:, do every third day, do for the third time, 
< tertius, third: see terce.'] 1. To do for the 
third time. Johnson. 2. In gun., to examine, 
as a piece of artillery, or the thickness of its 
metal, to test its strength. This is usually 
done with a pair of caliper compasses. 
To tertiate a piece of ordnance Is to examine the thick- 
ness of the metal, In order to Judge of Its strength, the 
position of the trunnions, etc. WinCim. Mil. Diet. 
tertium quid (ter'shi-um kwid). [L. : tertium, 
neut. of tertiiis, third; quid, something, some- 
what, neut. of indef. pronoun <juis, somebody: 
see what, //.) 1. Something neither mind 
nor matter; especially, an idea regarded as not 
a mere modification of the mind nor a purely 
external thing in itself. Hence 2. Some- 
thing mediating between essentially opposite 
things. 
tertium sal (ter'shi-um sal). [L. : tertium, 
neut. of ter tius, third .; sal, salt.] Inoldchem., 
a neutral salt, as being the product of an acid 
and an alkali, making a third substance differ- 
ent from either. 
Tertullianism (tfer-tul'yan-izm), . The doc- 
trine and discipline of the Tertullianists, in- 
volving special rigor as to absolution of peni- 
tents, opposition to second marriages, etc. 
About a year after this, he [Mr. Cotton] practically ap- 
peared in opposition to Tertullianitm, by proceeding unto 
a second marriage. Cotton Mather, Mag. Chris., III. 1. 
Tertullianist (ter-tul'yan-ist), n. [< Tertullian 
(LL. Tertullianus) + -1st.'] A member of a 
branch of the African Montanists, of the third 
and fourth centuries, holding to the doctrines 
of Montanism as modified by Tertullian. The 
divergence of the Tertullianists from orthodoxy seems to 
have been much less marked than that of the original 
Asiatic Montanists. They called themselves " Pneumat- 
ics," or spiritual men, ami the Catholics "Psychics," nat- 
ural or sensual men. 
teruncius (te-run'shi-us), .; pi. teruncii (-i). 
[L., three twelfths of an as (see a**), hence 
a trifle, < ter, three times, thrice, + uncia, the 
twelfth part of anything : see ounce*.] An an- 
cient Roman coin, being the fourth part of the 
as, and weighing 3 ounces. 
teru-tero (ter'8-ter'o), n. [S. Amer.; imitative 
of the bird's note.] The Cayenne lapwing, 
Tessa ria 
The lawe and peace he kept'-, urn! c'.nserued, 
Which him vplicld, that he was neuer over tented. 
J. llardyng, Chum, of Eng. (<<!. Kills, 1812), p. 75. 
2. To turn down or back; roll or fold over. 
tervee, ' . See terry. 
tervy (ter'vi), r. I. [Also lirrn, liirni-, turri/. 
Ct. tcrve.] To struggle ; kick or tumble about, 
as to get free. Jlnliiinll. [Prov. Eng.] 
teryt, . A Middle English spelling of Irtn-i/. 
terza-rima (ter'tsii-re'ma), n. [< It. U r:n rinui : 
terza, fern, of tcrzo, third'; rinia, rime : see t, na 
and rime 1 .] A form of verse in iambic rhythm 
used by the early Italian poets, in it the lines con- 
sist of ten or eleven syllables, and are arranged in sets of 
three that are closely connected. The middle line of th< 
first tlercet rimes with the first and third lines of the second 
tiercel, the middle line of the second tiercet rimes with 
the first and third lines of the third tlercet, and so on. 
At the end of the poem or canto there Is an extra line 
which has the same rime as the middle line of the preced- 
ing tiercet. In this form of verse Dante's "Divina Corn- 
media" is written. The most conspicuous example of its 
use in English literature is Byron's "Prophecy of Dante." 
terzetto (ter-tset'6), . [It., < terzo, third: see 
terce.] In music, a composition for three voices; 
a vocal trio. 
tesa (to'zii). n. See teesa. 
teschenite (tesh'en-it), n. [< Teschen, a town 
in Austrian Silesia, + -t<e 2 .] The name given 
by Hohenegger to certain eruptive rocks inter- 
calated and intrusive in the Cretaceous on the 
borders of Silesia and Moravia, and which have 
been the subject of discussion among geologists 
since 1821 . Tschermak described them in 1866, and con- 
sidered them as belonging to two quite different groups, 
one of which included rocks identical with or analogous to 
the plcrites, while for the other he adopted Hohenegger's 
name. The bitter group (the teschenites of Tschermak) 
have again been divided by Rosenbusch, who refers a part 
of them to the diabases, while the other portion Is consid- 
ered by him to have been originally essentially a mixture 
of plagioclase and nephelin, but now greatly altered, and 
accompanied by various accessory constituents. Rocks 
of somewhat similar character have been described from 
various other regions, as from the Caucasus and Portugal, 
and have been supposed to consist in part of nephelin. 
The question of the composition of the teschenites still re- 
mains obscure, since one of the latest investigators (Rohr- 
bach) maintains that none of the rocks described under 
that name contains nephelin. 
tesho-lama (tesh'6-la'ma), n. [Tibetan.] One 
of the two lama-popes of the Buddhists of Tibet 
and Mongolia, each of whom is supreme in his 
own district, the other being the dalai-lama, 
who, though nominally his equal, is really the 
more powerful. Also called bogdo-lama. See 
dalai-lama. 
Tesia (te'si-a), n. [NL. (Hodgson, 1837), from 
a Nepaulese name.] A generic name under 
which Hodgson originally, and after him other 
writers, described several small wren-like birds 
of India, later determined to represent different 
genera and conventionally referred to the 7V- 
meliidte. Hodgson in 1841 proposed to replace the name 
Tesia by Anura, which, however, being preoccupied, was 
by him in 1845 changed to Pnoepyya; and at the same 
time he proposed a new generic name Oligura for some of 
the birds he had before called Tesia. The result is that (a) 
some authors discard Tesia, and separate its species into 
the two genera Pnoepyga and Oligura, while (0) most au- 
thors use Tesia for the species of Oliffura, and put there 
the other birds which had been called Teeia. The species 
of Tesia in sense (ft) are S in number T. caKaneicoronata, 
Teru-tero (Btlotwp tents cayexntttsis\. 
or spur-winged plover, Vanellus or Belonopterus 
cayennensis, a South American bird of the plov- 
er kind. It resembles the common pewit, but Is easily 
distinguished. The wings are spurred, and there is a mi- 
nute hallux. The back and wings are resplendent with 
metallic iridescence of violet-green and bronze ; the breast 
is black ; the lining of the wings is white ; the head Is 
crested. During incubation it attempts to lead enemies 
away from its nest by feigning to be wounded, like many 
other birds. The eggs are esteemed a delicacy. Its wild 
and weird notes often disturb the stillness of the pampas, 
tervet, t'. [ME. terven, tercien, < AS. 'ttfrfian, 
in comp. getyrfian (= OHQ. zerben), fall. Cf. 
tone, terry, topsyturvy. Also in comp. overterve, 
ME. overterven, used awkwardly in one passage 
with toppe preceding, as if "top-overtene (an ex- 
pression appar. connected with the later topsy- 
terty, now topsyturvy, q. v.). Cf. terry, tirfe.] 
I. intrans. To fall ; be thrown down. 
And I schal crye ri^tfnl kyng, 
Ilk man haue as the seme, 
Th' rist schul ryse to ryche reynynge, 
I'ruyt and treget to helle schal ten*. 
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 207. 
II. trans. 1. To dash down ; cast ; throw ; in 
composition with over, to overthrow ; overturn. 
Ovyr (tyr)vyn (m\rr tyrryn, K. ouerturnen, S. H. ouyr- 
titruyn,t.). Subverto, everto. .Prompt .Pare. (1440), p. 873. 
So dred they liyni, they durst no thing ouer tenie 
Againe his lawe nor peace. 
J. Haniyng, Chron. of Eng. (ed. Ellis, 1812), p. 47. 
Testa (Olifura) fastatttiffroaafa. 
T. cyaneiventrit, and T. supernliaris ; they belong to the 
eastern Himalayan region and southward. Compare the 
figure here given with that under Pnofpyija. 
tessarace (tes-a-ra'se), n. [< Gr. rlaaapif, four, 
+ ant/, a point."] A tetrahedral summit. 
tessaradecad (tes'a-ra-dek'ad), n. [< Gr. rta- 
aapec, four (see four), + dmaf (fcicat-), the num- 
ber ten: see deMf.] A group of fourteen in- 
dividuals; an aggregate of fourteen. Farrar. 
tessarescaedecahedron (tes-a-res-e-dek-a-he'- 
dron), n. [LGr. TfoaaptaKaiieK&eSiwv, < Gr. rta- 
oapcoitaiSeKa, fourteen (see fourteen), -r- iSpo, 
base or face of a polyhedron.] A solid having 
fourteen faces. The ciiboctahedron, the truncated 
octahedron, and the truncated cube are examples of such 
bodies. See Archimedean foKd, under Archimedean. 
Tessaria (te-sa'ri-8), . [NL. (Ruiz and Pa- 
von, 1794), named after L. Tessari, professor 
