﻿ Encyclo - Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Webster's Dictionary, 1913

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Ter-tenant noun See Terre- tenant .

Terre-tenant noun [ French terre earth, land + tenant , present participle of tenir to hold.] (Law) One who has the actual possession of land; the occupant. [ Written also ter-tenant .]

Terre-verte noun [ French, from terre earth + vert , verte , green.] An olive-green earth used as a pigment. See Glauconite .

Terrene noun A tureen. [ Obsolete] Walpole.

Terrene adjective [ Latin terrenus , from terra the earth. See Terrace .]
1. Of or pertaining to the earth; earthy; as, terrene substance. Holland.

2. Earthy; terrestrial.

Sir W. Raleigh.

Be true and faithful to the king and his heirs, and truth and faith to bear of life and limb, and terrene honor.
O. Eng. Oath of Allegiance, quoted by Blackstone.

Common conceptions of the matters which lie at the basis of our terrene experience.

Terrene noun [ Latin terrenum land, ground: confer French terrain .]
1. The earth's surface; the earth. [ Poetic]

Tenfold the length of this terrene .

2. (Surv.) The surface of the ground.

Terrenity noun Earthiness; worldliness. [ Obsolete] "A dull and low terrenity ." Feltham.

Terreous adjective [ Latin terreus , from terra the earth. See Terrace .] Consisting of earth; earthy; as, terreous substances; terreous particles. [ Obsolete]

Terreplein noun [ French, from Latin terra earth + planus even, level, plain.] (Fort.) The top, platform, or horizontal surface, of a rampart, on which the cannon are placed. See Illust. of Casemate .

Terreplein noun (Civ. Engin.) An embankment of earth with a broad level top, which is sometimes excavated to form a continuation of an elevated canal across a valley.

Terrestre adjective [ Middle English , from Old French & French terrestre .] Terrestrial; earthly. [ Obsolete] "His paradise terrestre ." Chaucer.

Terrestrial adjective [ Latin terrestris , from terra the earth. See Terrace .]
1. Of or pertaining to the earth; existing on the earth; earthly; as, terrestrial animals. "Bodies terrestrial ." 1 Cor. xv. 40.

2. Representing, or consisting of, the earth; as, a terrestrial globe. "The dark terrestrial ball." Addison.

3. Of or pertaining to the world, or to the present state; sublunary; mundane.

Vain labors of terrestrial wit.

A genius bright and base,
Of towering talents, and terrestrial aims.

4. Consisting of land, in distinction from water; belonging to, or inhabiting, the land or ground, in distinction from trees, water, or the like; as, terrestrial serpents.

The terrestrial parts of the globe.

5. Adapted for the observation of objects on land and on the earth; as, a terrestrial telescope, in distinction from an astronomical telescope.

-- Ter*res"tri*al*ly , adverb -- Ter*res"tri*al*ness , noun

Terrestrial noun An inhabitant of the earth.

Terrestrify transitive verb [ Latin terrestris terrestrial + -fy .] To convert or reduce into a condition like that of the earth; to make earthy. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Terrestrious adjective [ See Terrestrial .] Terrestrial. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Terret noun One of the rings on the top of the saddle of a harness, through which the reins pass.

Terrible adjective [ French, from Latin terribilis , from terrere to frighten. See Terror .]

Prudent in peace, and terrible in war.

Deut. vii. 21.

2. Excessive; extreme; severe. [ Colloq.]

The terrible coldness of the season.


-- Ter"ri*ble*ness , noun -- Ter"ri*bly , adverb

Terricolæ noun plural [ New Latin , from Latin terra + colere to inhabit.] (Zoology) A division of annelids including the common earthworms and allied species.

Terrienniak noun (Zoology) The arctic fox.

Terrier noun [ CF. Latin terere to rub, to rub away, terebra a borer.] An auger or borer. [ Obsolete]

Terrier noun
1. [ French terrier , chien terrier , from terre the earth, Latin terra ; confer French terrier a burrow, Late Latin terrarium a hillock (hence the sense, a mound thrown up in making a burrow, a burrow). See Terrace , and confer Terrier , 2.] (Zoology) One of a breed of small dogs, which includes several distinct subbreeds, some of which, such as the Skye terrier and Yorkshire terrier, have long hair and drooping ears, while others, at the English and the black-and-tan terriers, have short, close, smooth hair and upright ears.

» Most kinds of terriers are noted for their courage, the acuteness of their sense of smell, their propensity to hunt burrowing animals, and their activity in destroying rats, etc. See Fox terrier , under Fox .

2. [ French terrier , papier terrier , Late Latin terrarius liber , i.e., a book belonging or pertaining to land or landed estates. See Terrier , 1, and confer Terrar .] (Law) (a) Formerly, a collection of acknowledgments of the vassals or tenants of a lordship, containing the rents and services they owed to the lord, and the like. (b) In modern usage, a book or roll in which the lands of private persons or corporations are described by their site, boundaries, number of acres, or the like. [ Written also terrar .]

Terrific adjective [ Latin terrificus ; from terrere to frighten + facere to make. See Terror , and Fact .] Causing terror; adapted to excite great fear or dread; terrible; as, a terrific form; a terrific sight.

Terrifical adjective Terrific. [ R.]

Terrifically adverb In a terrific manner.

Terrify transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Terrified ; present participle & verbal noun Terrifying .] [ Latin terrere to frighten + -fy : confer French terrifier , Latin terrificare . See Terrific , and - fy .]
1. To make terrible. [ Obsolete]

If the law, instead of aggravating and terrifying sin, shall give out license, it foils itself.

2. To alarm or shock with fear; to frighten.

When ye shall hear of wars . . . be not terrified .
Luke xxi. 9.

Terrigenous adjective [ Latin terrigena , terrigenus ; terra the earth + genere , gignere , to bring forth.] Earthborn; produced by the earth.

Terrine noun [ French See Tureen .]
1. A dish or pan, originally of earthenware, such as those in which various dishes are cooked and served; esp., an earthenware jar containing some table delicacy and sold with its contents.

2. (Cookery) A kind of ragout formerly cooked and served in the same dish; also, a dish consisting of several meats braised together and served in a terrine.

3. A soup tureen.

Territorial adjective [ Latin territorialis : confer French territorial .]
1. Of or pertaining to territory or land; as, territorial limits; territorial jurisdiction.

2. Limited to a certain district; as, right may be personal or territorial .


Territorial waters (Internat. Law) The waters under the territorial jurisdiction of a state; specif., the belt (often called the marine belt or territorial sea ) of sea subject to such jurisdiction, and subject only to the right of innocent passage by the vessels of other states.

Perhaps it may be said without impropriety that a state has theoretically the right to extend its territorial waters from time to time at its will with the increased range of guns. Whether it would in practice be judicious to do so . . . is a widely different matter . . . . In any case the custom of regulating a line three miles from land as defining the boundary of marginal territorial waters is so far fixed that a state must be supposed to accept it in absence of express notice.
W. E. Hall.

Territorialize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Territorialized ; present participle & verbal noun Territorializing .]
1. To enlarge by extension of territory.

2. To reduce to the condition of a territory.

Territorially adverb In regard to territory; by means of territory.

Territoried adjective Possessed of territory. [ R.]

Territory noun ; plural Territories . [ Latin territorium , from terra the earth: confer French territoire . See Terrace .]

He looked, and saw wide territory spread
Before him -- towns, and rural works between.



Terror noun [ Latin terror , akin to terrere to frighten, for tersere ; akin to Greek ... to flee away, dread, Sanskrit tras to tremble, to be afraid, Russian triasti to shake: confer French terreur . Confer Deter .]
1. Extreme fear; fear that agitates body and mind; violent dread; fright.

Terror seized the rebel host.

2. That which excites dread; a cause of extreme fear.

Those enormous terrors of the Nile.

Rulers are not a terror to good works.
Rom. xiii. 3.

There is no terror , Cassius, in your threats.

» Terror is used in the formation of compounds which are generally self-explaining: as, terror -fraught, terror -giving, terror -smitten, terror -stricken, terror -struck, and the like.

King of terrors , death. Job xviii. 14. -- Reign of Terror . (F. Hist.) See in Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

Syn. -- Alarm; fright; consternation; dread; dismay. See Alarm .

Terrorism noun [ Confer French terrorisme .] The act of terrorizing, or state of being terrorized; a mode of government by terror or intimidation. Jefferson.

Terrorist noun [ French terroriste .] One who governs by terrorism or intimidation; specifically, an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France. Burke.

Terrorize transitive verb [ Confer French terroriser .] To impress with terror; to coerce by intimidation.

Humiliated by the tyranny of foreign despotism, and terrorized by ecclesiastical authority.
J. A. Symonds.

Terrorless adjective Free from terror. Poe.


Tersanctus noun [ Latin ter thrice + sanctus holy.] (Eccl.) An ancient ascription of praise (containing the word "Holy" -- in its Latin form, " Sanctus " -- thrice repeated), used in the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church and before the prayer of consecration in the communion service of the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church. Confer Trisagion .

Terse adjective [ Compar. Terser ; superl. Tersest .] [ Latin tersus , past participle of tergere to rub or wipe off.]
1. Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [ Obsolete]

Many stones, . . . although terse and smooth, have not this power attractive.
Sir T. Browne.

2. Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons. [ R. & Obsolete] "Your polite and terse gallants." Massinger.

3. Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style.

Terse , luminous, and dignified eloquence.

A poet, too, was there, whose verse
Was tender, musical, and terse .

Syn. -- Neat; concise; compact. Terse , Concise . Terse was defined by Johnson "cleanly written", i. e. , free from blemishes, neat or smooth. Its present sense is "free from excrescences," and hence, compact , with smoothness, grace, or elegance, as in the following lones of Whitehead: -

"In eight terse lines has Phædrus told
(So frugal were the bards of old)
A tale of goats; and closed with grace,
Plan, moral, all, in that short space."

It differs from concise in not implying, perhaps, quite as much condensation, but chiefly in the additional idea of "grace or elegance."

-- Terse"ly , adverb -- Terse"ness , noun

Tersulphide noun [ Prefix ter- + sulphide .] (Chemistry) A trisulphide.

Tersulphuret noun [ Prefix ter- + sulphuret .] (Chemistry) A trisulphide. [ R.]

Tertial adjective & noun [ From Latin tertius third, the tertial feathers being feathers of the third row. See Tierce .] (Zoology) Same as Tertiary .

Tertian adjective [ Latin tertianus , from tertius the third. See Tierce .] (Medicine) Occurring every third day; as, a tertian fever.

Tertian noun [ Latin tertiana (sc. febris ): confer Old French tertiane .]
1. (Medicine) A disease, especially an intermittent fever, which returns every third day, reckoning inclusively, or in which the intermission lasts one day.


Tertiary adjective [ Latin tertiarius containing a third part, from tertius third: confer French tertiaire . See Tierce .]

2. (Chemistry) 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. Confer Primary , and Secondary .

3. (Geol.) Later than, or subsequent to, the Secondary.

4. (Zoology) 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 (Medicine) , the third and last stage of syphilis, in which it invades the bones and internal organs.

Tertiary noun ; plural 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.

2. (Geol.) The Tertiary era, period, or formation.

3. (Zoology) One of the quill feathers which are borne upon the basal joint of the wing of a bird. See Illust. of Bird .

Tertiate transitive verb [ Latin tertiatus , past participle of tertiare to do for the third time, from tertius the third.]
1. To do or perform for the third time. [ Obsolete & R.] Johnson.

2. (Gun.) To examine, as the thickness of the metal at the muzzle of a gun; or, in general, to examine the thickness of, as ordnance, in order to ascertain its strength.

Tertium quid [ Latin ] A third somewhat; something mediating, or regarded as being, between two diverse or incompatible substances, natures, or positions.

Terutero noun [ Probably so named from its city.] (Zoology) The South American lapwing ( Vanellus Cayennensis ). Its wings are furnished with short spurs. Called also Cayenne lapwing .