tierce

noun

1. an old measure of capacity equivalent to one third of a pipe, or 42 wine gallons.
2. a cask or vessel holding this quantity.
3. Also terce. Ecclesiastical. the third of the seven canonical hours, or the service for it, originally fixed for the third hour of the day (or 9 a.m.).
4. Fencing. the third of eight defensive positions.
5. Piquet. a sequence of three cards of the same suit, as an ace, king, and queen (tierce major), or a king, queen, and jack (tierce minor).
6. Obsolete. a third or third part.

noun

1. a variant of terce
2. the third of eight basic positions from which a parry or attack can be made in fencing
3. (tɜːs) cards a sequence of three cards in the same suit
4. an obsolete measure of capacity equal to 42 wine gallons

n.old unit of measure equal to one-third of a pipe (42 gallons), 1530s, from Anglo-French ters, Old French tierce, from Latin tertia, fem. of tertius “a third,” from root of tres “three” (see three). Also used in Middle English for “a third part” (late 15c.), “the third hour of the canonical day” (ending at 9 a.m.), late 14c., and, in astronomy and geometry, “sixtieth part of a second of an arc.”