1.A cask whose content is one third of a pipe; that is, forty-two wine gallons; also, a liquid measure of forty-two wine, or thirty-five imperial, gallons.
2.A cask larger than a barrel, and smaller than a hogshead or a puncheon, in which salt provisions, rice, etc., are packed for shipment.
3.(Mus.) The third tone of the scale. See Mediant.
4.A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king, queen, is called tierce-major.
5.(Fencing) A position in thrusting or parrying in which the wrist and nails are turned downward.
6.(R. C. Ch.) The third hour of the day, or nine a. m,; one of the canonical hours; also, the service appointed for that hour.
