tertiary
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɜː.ʃi.ə.ɹiː/
ipa: /ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/
ipa: /ˈtɜːʃ.ɹiː/
ipa: /ˈtɝ.ʃiˌɛɹ.i/
ipa: /ˈtɝ.ʃə.ɹi/
ipa: /ˈtɜː.ʃi.ə.ɹiː/
ipa: /ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/
ipa: /ˈtɜːʃ.ɹiː/
Forms: form: tertiaries
Etymology: PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from the Latin tertiārius (“of the third part or rank”), from tertius (“third”) (from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós, whence English third) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French tertiaire.
Senses: examples: text: The primary rhizomes usually die during the growing season. The tertiaries and secondaries, however, live through the winter and become primary rhizomes the following year.
ref: 1958 August, Ellis W. Hauser, H. Fred Arle, “Growth Habits”, in Johnson Grass as a Weed (Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1537), Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 4, column2:
text: The options available for distribution of water during times of reduced supply or demand are the following: […] (b) To reduce the rate of flow in the primary canal (still maintaining continuous flow in it) and to supply full flow in rotation to secondaries and their tertiaries; (c) to reduce the rate of flow in both primary and secondary canals, and to supply full flow in rotation to tertiaries; […]
ref: 1995 April, Donald [E.] Campbell, “Hydraulics of Canal Regulation and Types of Control Structures”, in Design and Operation of Smallholder Irrigation in South Asia (World Bank Technical Paper (Irrigation and Drainage Series); no. 256), Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 41:
text: There is no evidence that irrigators fail to keep their supply canals (tertiaries, watercourses, ditches) open when they need water.
ref: 1997 April, E[dward] B. Rice, “Influence of O&M Performance on Agro-economic Impacts”, in Paddy Irrigation and Water Management in Southeast Asia, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 49:
glosses: Any item considered to be of third order.
examples: text: My principal objection is against the compound or derivative tints, given under the denominations of secondaries and tertiaries.
ref: 1817 August 16, Thomas Hargreaves, “XXI. On the Work Entitled ‘Chromatics;’ or, An Essay on the Analogy and Harmony of Colours. By Mr. T. Hargreaves.”, in Alexander Tilloch, editor, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science, the Liberal and Fine Arts, Geology, Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce, volume 50, number 232, London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor, Shoe Lane […], →OCLC, page 128:
text: [Rudolf] Arnheim suggested that the capacity of activating tensions is to be found in the tertiary hues, which are unbalanced mixtures of primaries that are present in different quantities. This peculiar relationship between tertiaries must be distinguished from the interaction of complementary colors that occurs when primaries and secondaries are coupled.
ref: 1993, Augusto Garau, “Introduction: A Theory of Color Mixtures”, in Nicola Bruno, transl., Color Harmonies, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 3:
glosses: A tertiary colour.
examples: text: There is, within our area, a great gap between the Eocene group and the later tertiaries, indicated by the difference of their organic contents. Between the existing fauna of our seas and the oldest stage of the later tertiaries, there is a distinct and extensive relationship of identity of species.
ref: 1852, Edward Forbes, “Introductory Remarks”, in Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British Tertiaries, London: Printed [by C. and J. Adland] for the Palæontographical Society, →OCLC, page vi:
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: Something from the Tertiary Period (the former term for the geologic period from 65 million to 2.58 million years ago).
examples: text: The feathers [of the least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)], black centrally, are margined with bright rufous, especially on the back, scapulars, and tertiaries, and with white tips on the latter; the stripes on the middle of the throat and chest are indistinct or almost absent, more evident on sides of breast.
ref: 1955, Thomas S. Roberts, “Key to Shore Birds”, in Manual for the Identification of the Birds of Minnesota and Neighboring States, rev. edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, published 1980, →OCLC, page 583:
text: Coincident with the dropping out of the fifth or sixth primary is the molt of the outermost tertiary, followed by the adjoining tertiary, and then the third tertiary, which in most passerine birds is the last or innermost.
ref: 1956, Olin Sewall Pettingill, [Jr.], A Laboratory and Field Manual of Ornithology, 3rd rev. edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 142:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
ornithology
glosses: A tertiary feather; a tertial.
examples: text: A gigaton-scale weapon would of necessity be a three-stage design (incorporating a fusion tertiary - likely with its own massive fission tamper - in addition to the fission primary and fission-jacketed fusion secondary), as a reasonably-sized primary would likely have difficulty imploding to ignition the enormous secondary that would be required to reach a one-gigaton yield with a two-stage thermonuclear.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A large stage in some extremely powerful thermonuclear weapons (resembling a greatly-enlarged secondary) which is compressed by the explosion of the secondary until ignition of nuclear fusion takes place, in much the same manner as the secondary is imploded by the primary, and which can allow for the attainment of yields of many tens or even hundreds of megatons, and likely even greater; not used in modern weapons due to a greater focus on the accurate use of sub-megaton weapons, the tremendous size of weapons incorporating a tertiary, and the lack of targets whose destruction would necessitate the use of a three-stage weapon.
examples: text: Tertiaries living in places where there is no Church of the Order or of the Third Order can gain all the indulgences they would gain visiting such a church, by visiting their respective parish church, or, where there is no parochial church, by visiting another church or public oratory, and fulfilling the other conditions.
ref: 1952, Dominican Tertiaries’ Manual: For the Daily Use of Private and Fraternity Tertiaries of the Third Order of St. Dominic, 1st rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Third Order of St. Dominic, published 1954, →OCLC, page 362:
text: Immediately after her arrival in Ferrara, while she was still striving to secure the foundation of her exemplary reformed community of Dominican tertiaries, [Lucia] Brocadelli also renewed her attempts to enhance [Girolamo] Savonarola's saintly reputation.
ref: 2008, Tamar Herzig, “The Power of Visions: Lucia Brocadelli and Osanna Andreasi”, in Savonarola’s Women: Visions and Reform in Renaissance Italy, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press; large print edition, Richmond, B.C.: ReadHowYouWant.com Ltd., 2010, page 146
topics: Catholicism
Christianity
Roman-Catholicism
glosses: A member of a Roman Catholic third order; a layperson who participates in activities similar to those engaged in by men and women who take religious vows (respectively the first and second orders), and who may wear some elements of an order's habit such as a scapular.
Related terms: tertian