4. (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.
Ter"ti*a*ry, 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. Addis & Arnold.