ternal, a. rare.
(ˈtɜːnəl)
[ad. med.L. ternāl-is, f. tern-ī distrib. numeral, ‘three by three’, f. ter thrice: see -al1. So OF. ternal (15th c. in Godef.).]
1. Consisting of three; threefold, triple.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 193/1 Madefye therin a ternall reduplicated cloth [explained by ‘trebled’ in ‘The Expositione of such wordes as are in this Booke derived of the Latines’]. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 652 The Oyl..by its ternal maceration..acquires more vertue. a 1680 Charnock in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xcix. 3 A ternal repetition of his holiness. |
2. Third (of each group of three); = ternary 3.
| 1804 Southey in Ann. Rev. II. 526 [Of Lybeaus Desconus] The four ternal lines rhyming..and also the two first couplets. [The stanzas rime: aad, aad, bbd, ccd.] |