▪ I. tier, n.1
(tɪə(r))
Also 6–9 tire, 6–8 tyre, (6 teare, 7 tere, 7–8 teer, 8 tear).
[Orig. tire, a. F. tire, in OF. (c 1210 in Godef.) ‘suite, sequence, range, rank, order’: cf. tire à tire in succession, one after another, f. tirer to draw, elongate. The phonetic history of the forms teare, tere, teer, is obscure. Pl. after a numeral sometimes tier.]
1. a. A row, rank, range, course; usually one of a series of rows placed one above another, or at least rising each above the preceding one; e.g. tiers of galleries, shelves, boxes in a theatre, or seats on a sloping floor; also of banks of oars in ancient ships or boats; see also b, c.
| 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. iii. viii. 114/2 Ten gallies of fiue tier of ores. a 1625 Fletcher Bloody Brother ii. ii, I have ballast for their bellies, if they eat a gods name, Let them have ten tire of teeth a piece, I care not. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. vii. 33 Caske..stowed tier aboue tier. 1686 J. Dunton Lett. New-Eng. (1867) 35 He has three Tere of Teeth in his Chaps. 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 203 The..Stones..which form'd the first Tyre or Belt thereof. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. iii. (ed. 2) 182 The Worts now run swiftly into a single Teer of Backs. 1787 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 311 There are two tiers of galleries, and the [meeting-] house was very full. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 358 It consists of three bridges, or tires of arches one above another. 1844 Ld. Houghton Palm Leaves 1 Above the towers of tripple tire. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 346 A round of grape-shot consists of three tiers of cast-iron balls, generally three in a tier. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets ix. 280 The new theatre in Athens contained 30,000 spectators seated in semicircular tiers scooped out of the rock. |
b. A row of guns or gun-ports in a man-of-war or (as in quot. 1573) in a fort.
| 1573 in Calr. Scott. Pap. IV. 475 Davyes towre..a courten with vj cannons..in loopes of stone..behynd the same standes another teare of ordina[nce] lyke xvj foote clym above the other. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ii. 54 [A] man of war..carrying two tyre of Ordonance. a 1647 Pette in Archæologia XII. 283 The..distance of the lower tire of ports from the water. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 322 A good tier of guns kept the rest at a distance. 1813 Byron Corsair iii. xv, She bears her down majestically near, Speed on her prow, and terror in her tier. |
c. A rank of pipes in an organ controlled by one stop (see rank n.1 1, quots. 1811, 1881).
| 1828–32 in Webster. 1880 E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 580/2 Although the number of pipes to each key thus continued to be added to, no means was devised for silencing or selecting any of the several ranks or tiers. |
d. transf. and fig. Rank, grade; stratum.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 35 Such one was Wrath, the last of this ungodly tire. 1646 Crashaw Sosp. d' Her. xxxviii, A gen'ral hiss, from the whole tire of snakes. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 201 This is a sin of quality for the most part, tho' the lower tier of people are often tainted with it. 1882 W. B. Weeden Soc. Law Labor 66 The base Fuidirs composed the lower tier of society. |
e. A range or line of contiguous lots, townships, counties, or states. U.S.
| 1693 in Connecticut Hist. Soc. Coll. (1912) XIV. 212 One lyeing in the Same Teere of lotts abutting on a Highway. 1720 in New Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1875) XXIX. 288 Eastward of the first tear of lots. 1722 Conn. Col. Rec. (1872) VI. 311 The northermost tier of the three tier of lots lying next to Midletown. 1824 in S. C. Cox Recoll. Early Settlem. Wabash Valley (1860) iii. 18 The land is sold in tiers of townships. 1856 Spirit of Times 18 Oct. 113/1 The great varying hare..is no longer to be found in our state,..until we reach the northern tier of counties, on the Canada line. 1949 Ward County (North Dakota) Independent 21 July 1/3 Each of the big wheat states in the tier from Texas up through North Dakota appears to be coming up with a crop just under that state's all-time record. |
f. A mountainous scarp; a mountain. Tasmania.
| 1850 T. Arnold Let. 29 Sept. (1966) 55 The next day..we all walked up a ‘tier’ (Tasmanian for hill) near the house. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 185/2 The marginal crests of this mountain table-land, together with its upper surface,..are known locally as ‘Tiers’. 1965 Austral. Encycl. VIII. 425/2 Along the north-western coast [of Tasmania] there is a strip of rich, undulating land, climbing steadily to the base of steep escarpments called ‘tiers’. |
g. Each of a number of successively overlapping ruffles or flounces on a garment.
| 1934 in Webster. 1938 F. P. Walkup Dressing Part xv. 354 Tiers of ruffles, side pleats, and diagonal layers were introduced, for variety. 1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. d12/1 Tiers will fall from little squared yokes, freely. |
2. Naut. a. A row of ships moored or anchored at a particular place; hence, an anchorage or mooring-place where ships lie in rows or columns.
| 1732 Lond. Mag. I. 152 All the Ships Crews in the Teer gathered together. 1771 Ann. Reg. 148 A Dutch vessel..broke from her mooring, ran foul of a tier of ships. 1774 Hull Dock Act 33 No more than three ships..shall lie in the same tier, within the said haven. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, The tiers of shipping lay on either hand. 1907 Law Rep., Probate 61 A steamship..which was lying at Greenwich tier. |
b. (See quot. 1882.)
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) X. 644/2 He [the mate] is to have a diligent attention to the cables, seeing that they are well coiled and kept clean when laid in the tier. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames iii. 94 Tea..stowed in the cable tier of a China Ship. 1825 [see tierer1]. 1833, 1860 [see cable-tier s.v. cable n. 7]. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 95 The tiers are large racks, and stow the stream cable, hawsers for the kedge, etc., anchor gear, runners and tackles,..clothes-lines, etc. |
3. attrib. and Comb.: tier-board, a board belonging to a cable or rope tier: see 2 b; tier-ranger, a (Thames) river thief; tier-saw: see quot. 1877; tier-shot: see quot. 1867; tiersman Tasmanian colloq. (see quot.); cf. sense 1 f above.
| 1887 Mather Nor'ard of Dogger (1889) 81 They spread some o' the trawl-warp *tier-boards along the thwarts, an' a rug on the top of 'em for me to lie on. |
| 1858 Dickens Down with Tide Repr. Pieces (1899) 198 *Tier-rangers, who silently dropped alongside the tiers of shipping in the Pool, by night. Ibid. 200 We took no Tier-rangers..nor other evil-disposed person or persons. 1862 Mayhew Lond. Labour IV. 370/2 Tier-rangers or river pirates. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Tier-saw, one for cutting curved faces to bricks for arches and round pillars. |
| 1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 35 *Tier Shot.—At 50 rounds per gun. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Tier-shot, that kind of grape⁓shot which is secured in tiers by parallel iron discs. |
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 76 ‘*Tiersman’: one who lives in the mountains. Tasmanian slang. |
▪ II. tier, n.2
(ˈtaɪə(r))
Also tyer.
[f. tie v. + -er1.]
1. One who ties; spec. a person employed to tie something. Also tier up.
| 1633 P. Fletcher Poet. Misc. 57 Hymen, the tier of hearts already tied. 1648 Hexham ii, Een Hechter, a Fixer, a Fastner, or a Tyer to. 1848 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IX. ii. 554 The tiers can take the best to tie to the poles. 1876 Plummer tr. Döllinger's Hippol. & Callistus iii. 153 The Church..is the tyer of the marriage bond. 1895 Daily Tel. 18 Sept. 4/2 He begins life at the sandpaper works, as a tier up of bundles, at three and sixpence a week. |
2. One who ties with another in a match or competition.
| 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXV. 97 The tyers to play with one another in the order they become tyers. |
3. Something that ties or is used for tying; a band; spec. one for tying a sail; pl. = tie-up 4.
| 1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 36 The beans are cut..and tied with strong tyers or straw bands. 1860 G. S. Nares Naval Cadet's Guide 81 The sail is then secured to the yard with tyers. 1873 ‘Vanderdecken’ Yachts & Yachting 265 Let the gaskets, or as they are sometimes called, the tyers, which confine the mainsail in its furl, be taken off. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 130 The sail is secured to the yard with tyers. 1895 Sotheby's Catal. 25 Apr. 52 (Kelmscott Press) Morris,..‘The Defence of Guenevere’, ornamental title and initial letters, vellum, silk tyers, uncut. 1939 A. Ransome Secret Water iii. 44 In a minute or two, he had bundled the sail along the boom and put a couple of tiers to hold it there. 1947 ― Great Northern? viii. 101 The next few minutes were full of the regular drill of getting under way. Tyers were cast off the sails. |
4. U.S. A pinafore or apron covering the whole front of the dress. (Also spelt tire, tyre, and referred by some to tire n.1 q.v.)
| 1846 Worcester, Tier, one that ties; a child's apron, tidy. See Tire. 1864 Webster, Tier, a child's apron without sleeves, and covering the upper part of the body, [1890] and tied with tape or cord. 1865 Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys I. 106 She took care of Say; put on her long⁓sleeved tyers when she sent her out to play. 1889 L. Larcom A New Engld. Girlhood 22 We sometimes smirched our clean aprons (high-necked and long-sleeved ones, known as tiers). 1902 Dialect Notes (U.S.) II. 254 (Let. to G. Hempl) Even among the older people [in New Engl.], ‘cricket’ has mostly given place to ‘footstool’, and ‘tier’ to ‘apron’. |
▪ III. tier, v.1
(tɪə(r))
[f. tier n.1]
trans. To arrange or pile in tiers.
| 1888–9 N. York Produce Exch. Rep. 301 (Cent.) Lightermen shall not..be required to tier or pile their freight on the docks. |
▪ IV. tier, v.2
erron. spelling of teer.
| 1837 J. Matley in Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 54/2 Machinery for the operation of Tiering used in printing Cotton, Linen, &c. 1909 Dundee Advert. 25 Dec. 7 He commenced work..as a tier boy to a calico block printer. |
▪ V. tier
obs. form of tear n.1, tire.