Word Direct Answers

What does "tertiary" mean?

Tertiary: (Chem.) Possessing some quality in the third degree; having been subjected to the substitution of three atoms or radicals; as, a tertiary alcohol, amine, or salt. Cf. Primary, and Secondary. (CH3)3C.OH.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(Geol.) Later than, or subsequent to, the Secondary.
  2. 3.(Zoöl.) Growing on the innermost joint of a bird's wing; tertial; -- said of quills. Tertiary age. (Geol.) See under Age, 8. -- Tertiary color, a color produced by the mixture of two secondaries. "The so-called tertiary colors are citrine, russet, and olive." Fairholt. -- Tertiary period. (Geol.) (a) The first period of the age of mammals, or of the Cenozoic era. (b) The rock formation of that period; -- called also Tertiary formation. See the Chart of Geology. -- Tertiary syphilis (Med.), the third and last stage of syphilis, in which it invades the bones and internal organs.
  3. 4.(R. C. Ch.) A member of the Third Order in any monastic system; as, the Franciscan tertiaries; the Dominican tertiaries; the Carmelite tertiaries. See Third Order, under Third. Addis & Arnold.
  4. 5.(Geol.) The Tertiary era, period, or formation.
  5. 6.(Zoöl.) One of the quill feathers which are borne upon the basal joint of the wing of a bird. See Illust. of Bird.

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