tertiaries

Noun

tertiary (plural tertiaries)

1. Any item considered to be of third order.
   • The primary rhizomes usually die during the growing season. The tertiaries and secondaries, however, live through the winter and become primary rhizomes the following year.1958 August, Ellis W. Hauser, H. Fred Arle, “Growth Habits”, in Johnson Grass as a Weed (Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1537), Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 4, column2
2. A tertiary colour.
   • My principal objection is against the compound or derivative tints, given under the denominations of secondaries and tertiaries.1817 August 16, Thomas Hargreaves, “XXI. On the Work Entitled ‘Chromatics;’ or, An Essay on the Analogy and Harmony of Colours. By Mr. T. Hargreaves.”, in Alexander Tilloch, editor, The Philosophical...
3. Something from the Tertiary Period (the former term for the geologic period from 65 million to 2.58 million years ago).
   • There is, within our area, a great gap between the Eocene group and the later tertiaries, indicated by the difference of their organic contents. Between the existing fauna of our seas and the oldest stage of the later tertiaries, there is a distinct and extensive relationship of identity of species.1852, Edward Forbes, “Introductory Remarks”, in Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British Tertiaries, London: Printed [by C. and J. Adland] for the Palæontographical Society, →OCLC, page vi
4. A tertiary feather; a tertial.
   • The feathers [of the least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)], black centrally, are margined with bright rufous, especially on the back, scapulars, and tertiaries, and with white tips on the latter; the stripes on the middle of the throat and chest are indistinct or almost absent, more evident on...1955, Thomas S. Roberts, “Key to Shore Birds”, in Manual for the Identification of the Birds of Minnesota and Neighboring States, rev. edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press...
5. A large stage in some extremely powerful thermonuclear weapons (resembling a greatly-enlarged secondary) which is compressed by the explosion of the secondary until ignition of nuclear fusion takes place, in much the same manner as the secondary is imploded by the primary, and which can allow for the attainment of yields of many tens or even hundreds of megatons, and likely even greater; not used in modern weapons due to a greater focus on the accurate use of sub-megaton weapons, the tremendous size of weapons incorporating a tertiary, and the lack of targets whose destruction would necessitate the use of a three-stage weapon.
   • A gigaton-scale weapon would of necessity be a three-stage design (incorporating a fusion tertiary - likely with its own massive fission tamper - in addition to the fission primary and fission-jacketed fusion secondary), as a reasonably-sized primary would likely have difficulty imploding to...
6. A member of a Roman Catholic third order; a layperson who participates in activities similar to those engaged in by men and women who take religious vows (respectively the first and second orders), and who may wear some elements of an order's habit such as a scapular.
   • Tertiaries living in places where there is no Church of the Order or of the Third Order can gain all the indulgences they would gain visiting such a church, by visiting their respective parish church, or, where there is no parochial church, by visiting another church or public oratory, and...1952, Dominican Tertiaries’ Manual: For the Daily Use of Private and Fraternity Tertiaries of the Third Order of St. Dominic, 1st rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Third Order of St. Dominic, published...

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