tierce

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

• noun A measure of liquid capacity, equal to a third of a pipe, or 42 gallons (159 liters).
• noun Games A sequence of three cards of the same suit.
• noun Sports The third position from which a parry or thrust can be made in fencing.
• noun Music An interval of a third.

from The Century Dictionary.

• In heraldry, divided into three parts of three different tinctures.
• noun A third; a third part.
• noun Same as terce, 4.
• noun A liquid measure equal to one third of a pipe. See pipe, 8. Also terce.
• noun A cask intermediate in size between a barrel and a hogshead: as, a tierce of sugar; a tierce of rice or of salted provisions.
• noun In music, same as third.
• noun In card-playing, a sequence of three cards.
• noun In fencing, the third of a series of eight points and parries, beginning with prime.
• noun In heraldry, a fesse composed of three triangles, usually of three different tinctures: a bearing rare in English heraldry.

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

• adjective (Her.) Divided into three equal parts of three different tinctures; -- said of an escutcheon.
• noun 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.
• noun A cask larger than a barrel, and smaller than a hogshead or a puncheon, in which salt provisions, rice, etc., are packed for shipment.
• noun (Mus.) The third tone of the scale. See Mediant.
• noun A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king, queen, is called tierce-major.
• noun (Fencing) A position in thrusting or parrying in which the wrist and nails are turned downward.
• noun (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.

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

• noun 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.
• noun A cask larger than a barrel, and smaller than a hogshead or a puncheon, in which salt provisions, rice, etc., are packed for shipment.
• noun music The third tone of the scale. See mediant.
• noun card games A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king and queen is called tierce-major.
• noun fencing The third defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
• noun heraldry An ordinary that covers the left or right third of the field of a shield or flag.
• noun religion, Roman Catholic The third hour of the day, or nine a. m,; one of the canonical hours; also, the service appointed for that hour.
• noun obsolete One sixtieth of a second, i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system. (Also known as a third.)

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

• noun the third canonical hour; about 9 a.m.
• noun one of three equal parts of a divisible whole
• noun the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one