tierce

noun

1. (obsolete)A third.
2. Synonym of terce: the third canonical hour or its service.
3. (historical)A cask of a certain size, or its volume used as a measure of capacity. Larger than a barrel but smaller than a hogshead.

   “He then gave me a large piece of silver coin, such as I never had seen or had before, and told me to get ready for the voyage, and he would credit me with a tierce of sugar, and another of rum […].”

   “Have an eye to the molasses tierce, Mr. Stubb; it was a little leaky, I thought.”

   “Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons.”

4. The third tone of the scale. See mediant.
5. A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king and queen is called tierce-major.
6. The third defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at head height.

   “[W]e behold two men with lion-look, with alert attitude, side foremost, right foot advanced; flourishing and thrusting, stoccado and passado, in tierce and quart; intent to skewer one another.”

7. An ordinary that covers the left or right third of the field of a shield or flag.
8. (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.)

name

1. A surname from French.