Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The third of the seven canonical hours. No longer in liturgical use.
  • noun The time of day appointed for this service, usually the third hour after sunrise.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A third; a third part.
  • noun Same as tierce, 3.
  • noun In Scots law, a right corresponding to dower in English law; a real right whereby a widow who has not accepted any special provision is entitled to a life-rent of one third of the heritage in which her husband died infeft, provided the marriage has endured for a year and a day, or has produced a living child. No widow is entitled to her terce until she is regularly kenned to it. See ken, transitive verb, 5.
  • noun In the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, and in religious houses, and as a devotional office in the Anglican Church, the office of the third hour: originally and properly said half-way between sunrise and noon. See canonical hours, under canonical.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun See tierce.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The third canonical hour; about 9 a.m.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the third canonical hour; about 9 a.m.

Etymologies

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  • Compare undern.

    January 19, 2023