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Tertiary   /tˈərʃəri/  /tˈərʃiˌɛri/   Listen
adjective
Tertiary  adj.  
1.
Being of the third formation, order, or rank; third; as, a tertiary use of a word.
2.
(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.
3.
(Geol.) Later than, or subsequent to, the Secondary.
4.
(Zool.) 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."
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.



noun
Tertiary  n.  (pl. tertiaries)  
1.
(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.
2.
(Geol.) The Tertiary era, period, or formation.
3.
(Zool.) One of the quill feathers which are borne upon the basal joint of the wing of a bird.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Tertiary" Quotes from Famous Books



... anthropology, he would, I doubt not, be aware that the equine quadrupeds of the Quaternary period do not differ from existing Equidae in any more important respect than these last differ from one another; and he would know that it is, nevertheless, a well-established fact that, in the course of the Tertiary period, the equine quadrupeds have undergone a series of changes exactly such as the doctrine of evolution requires. Hence sound analogical reasoning justifies the expectation that, when we obtain the remains of Pliocene, Miocene, ...
— Freedom in Science and Teaching. - from the German of Ernst Haeckel • Ernst Haeckel

... great masses, which covered spots having an area of twenty to thirty square metres. At some places this bush rose to a height of about a metre above the ground. The prevailing rock appeared to be granite. The bottoms of the valleys were formed of post-Tertiary formations, which most frequently consisted of sand and rolled stones, as, for instance, was the case in the great valley in which ilenka's brother's ...
— The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II • A.E. Nordenskieold

... late origin, and yet should they remain at their present level, subjected only to the action of the sea and to the growing powers of the coral, during as many centuries as must have elapsed since any of the earlier tertiary epochs, it cannot, I think, be doubted that their lagoons and the islets on their reef, would present a totally different appearance from what they now do. This consideration leads to the suspicion that some renovating agency (namely subsidence) comes into ...
— Coral Reefs • Charles Darwin

... however, realised fortunes out of the enterprise. Almost any kind of soil that will successfully rear wheat and maize is adapted to the growth of mint. Rich alluvions, however, seem to be most natural, as would be inferred from the fact that the wild herb is almost uniformly found growing upon the tertiary formations on the margins of streams. The rich bottom lands along our rivers and the boundless prairies of the West are eminently adapted for its successful culture. It is believed by those best acquainted with the subject, that its cultivation ...
— The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom • P. L. Simmonds

... monkey tribe then enjoyed a far greater range over the earth, and perhaps filled a more important place in nature than it does now. Its restriction to the comparatively narrow limits of the tropics is no doubt mainly due to the great alteration of climate which occurred at the close of the Tertiary period, but it may have been aided by the continuous development of varied forms of mammalian life better fitted for the contrasted seasons and deciduous vegetation of the north temperate regions. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 344, August 5, 1882 • Various


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