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tertian. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
tertian, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From Middle English tertiān, terciān, terciāne (adjective and noun), originally often as part of the collocation fever cum terciane, after Latin febris cum tertiānā. Compare the "third" essence of tertiary.
Adjective
tertian (not comparable)
- (medicine, of a fever) Characterised by paroxysms recurring every other day (that is, every third day by inclusive reckoning).
- Coordinate terms: quartan, quotidian
- (music) Pertaining to the mean-tone temperament, in which major thirds are perfectly in tune.
Noun
tertian (plural tertians)
- A tertian fever.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:And although we feele it not, it is not to bee doubted, if a continuall ague may in the end suppresse our mind, a tertian will also (according to her measure and proportion) breed some alteration in it.
1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto 1:He died of the slow fever call'd the tertian, / And left his widow to her own aversion.
- A cask of a certain size; its volume used as a measure of capacity (one-third of a tun's).
- Synonym: puncheon
- Hypernym: cask
- Coordinate terms: (in order of increasing volume) rundlet; barrel; tierce; hogshead; pipe, butt; tun
- Alternative form: tercian
Anagrams