Terrestrious Ter·res"tri·ous adjective [ See Terrestrial .] Terrestrial. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

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

Terrible Ter"ri·ble adjective [ French, from Latin terribilis , from terrere to frighten. See Terror .] 1. Adapted or likely to excite terror, awe, or dread; dreadful; formidable.

Prudent in peace, and terrible in war.

Prior.

Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible .

Deut. vii. 21.

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

The terrible coldness of the season.

Clarendon.

Syn. -- Terrific; fearful; frightful; formidable; dreadful; horrible; shocking; awful.

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

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

Terrienniak Ter`ri·en"ni·ak noun (Zoology) The arctic fox.

Terrier Ter"ri·er noun [ CF. Latin terere to rub, to rub away, terebra a borer.] An auger or borer. [ Obsolete]

Terrier Ter"ri·er 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 Ter·rif"ic 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 Ter·rif"ic·al adjective Terrific. [ R.]

Terrifically Ter·rif"ic·al·ly adverb In a terrific manner.

Terrify Ter"ri·fy 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.

Milton.

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

When ye shall hear of wars . . . be not terrified .

Luke xxi. 9.

Terrigenous Ter·rig"e·nous adjective [ Latin terrigena , terrigenus ; terra the earth + genere , gignere , to bring forth.] Earthborn; produced by the earth.

Terrine Ter·rine" 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 Ter`ri·to"ri·al 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 .

3. Of or pertaining to all or any of the Territories of the United States, or to any district similarly organized elsewhere; as, Territorial governments.

Territorial waters Ter`ri·to"ri·al wa"ters (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 Ter`ri·to"ri·al·ize 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 Ter`ri·to"ri·al·ly adverb In regard to territory; by means of territory.

Territoried Ter"ri·to·ried adjective Possessed of territory. [ R.]

Territory Ter"ri·to·ry noun ; plural Territories . [ Latin territorium , from terra the earth: confer French territoire . See Terrace .] 1. A large extent or tract of land; a region; a country; a district.

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

Milton.

2. The extent of land belonging to, or under the dominion of, a prince, state, or other form of government; often, a tract of land lying at a distance from the parent country or from the seat of government; as, the territory of a State; the territories of the East India Company.

3. In the United States, a portion of the country not included within the limits of any State, and not yet admitted as a State into the Union, but organized with a separate legislature, under a Territorial governor and other officers appointed by the President and Senate of the United States. In Canada, a similarly organized portion of the country not yet formed into a Province.

Terror Ter"ror 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.

Milton.

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

Those enormous terrors of the Nile.

Prior.

Rulers are not a terror to good works.

Rom. xiii. 3.

There is no terror , Cassius, in your threats.

Shak.

» 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 Ter"ror·ism noun [ Confer French terrorisme .] The act of terrorizing, or state of being terrorized; a mode of government by terror or intimidation. Jefferson.

Terrorist Ter"ror·ist 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 Ter"ror·ize 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 Ter"ror·less adjective Free from terror. Poe.

Terry Ter"ry noun A kind of heavy colored fabric, either all silk, or silk and worsted, or silk and cotton, often called terry velvet , used for upholstery and trimmings.

Tersanctus Ter·sanc"tus 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 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.

Macaulay.

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

Longfellow.

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 Ter·sul"phide noun [ Prefix ter- + sulphide .] (Chemistry) A trisulphide.

Tersulphuret Ter·sul"phu·ret noun [ Prefix ter- + sulphuret .] (Chemistry) A trisulphide. [ R.]

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

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

Tertian Ter"tian 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.

2. A liquid measure formerly used for wine, equal to seventy imperial, or eighty-four wine, gallons, being one third of a tun.

Tertiary Ter"ti·a·ry adjective [ Latin tertiarius containing a third part, from tertius third: confer French tertiaire . See Tierce .] 1. Being of the third formation, order, or rank; third; as, a tertiary use of a word. Trench.

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 Ter"ti·a·ry 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 Ter"ti·ate 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 Ter"ti·um quid [ Latin ] A third somewhat; something mediating, or regarded as being, between two diverse or incompatible substances, natures, or positions.

Terutero Ter`u·ter"o 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 .

Terza rima Ter"za ri"ma [ Italian , a third or triple rhyme.] A peculiar and complicated system of versification, borrowed by the early Italian poets from the Troubadours.

Terzetto Ter·zet"to noun [ Italian , dim. of terzo the third, Latin tertius . See Tierce .] (Mus.) A composition in three voice parts; a vocal (rarely an instrumental) trio.

Tesla coil, Tesla transformer Tes"la coil, Tes"la trans·form"er [ After N. Tesla , American electrician.] (Electricity) A transformer without iron, for high frequency alternating or oscillating currents; an oscillation transformer.

Tesselar Tes"sel·ar adjective [ Latin tessella a small square piece, a little cube, dim. of tessera a square piece of stone, wood, etc., a die.] Formed of tesseræ, as a mosaic.

Tessellata Tes`sel·la"ta noun plural [ New Latin See Tessellate .] (Zoology) A division of Crinoidea including numerous fossil species in which the body is covered with tessellated plates.

Tessellate Tes"sel·late transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tessellated ; present participle & verbal noun Tessellating .] [ Latin tessellatus tessellated. See Tessellar .] To form into squares or checkers; to lay with checkered work.

The floors are sometimes of wood, tessellated after the fashion of France.

Macaulay.

Tessellate Tes"sel·late adjective [ Latin tesselatus .] Tessellated.

Tessellated Tes"sel·la`ted adjective 1. Formed of little squares, as mosaic work; checkered; as, a tessellated pavement.

2. (Bot. & Zoology) Marked like a checkerboard; as, a tessellated leaf.

Tessellation Tes`sel·la"tion noun The act of tessellating; also, the mosaic work so formed. J. Forsyth.

Tessera Tes"se·ra noun ; plural Tesseræ . [ Latin , a square piece, a die. See Tessellar .] A small piece of marble, glass, earthenware, or the like, having a square, or nearly square, face, used by the ancients for mosaic, as for making pavements, for ornamenting walls, and like purposes; also, a similar piece of ivory, bone, wood, etc., used as a ticket of admission to theaters, or as a certificate for successful gladiators, and as a token for various other purposes. Fairholt.

Tesseraic Tes`se·ra"ic adjective Diversified by squares; done in mosaic; tessellated. [ Obsolete] Sir R. Atkyns (1712).

Tesseral Tes"se·ral adjective 1. Of, pertaining to, or containing, tesseræ.

2. (Crystallog.) Isometric.

Tessular Tes"su·lar adjective (Crystallog.) Tesseral.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter T > Page 31 of 124.
« Previous ¦23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 ¦ Next »