tercentenary, a. and n.
(tɜːˈsɛntɪnərɪ, -sɛnˈtiːnərɪ)
[f. ter- + centenary, after L. ter centēni three hundred each. For the special use in reference to years cf. centenary.]
A. adj. Of or belonging to the number of three hundred; usually, of or pertaining to a completed period of 300 years; tercentennial.
| 1844 S. R. Maitland Dark Ages xiii. 221, I mean no offence to the gentleman from whose tercentenary sermon it purports to be an extract. 1882–3 Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. III. 2421/1 Bishop Francis David..died in 1579,—an event which received in 1879 its tercentenary celebration in the land of his martyrdom [Transylvania]. |
B. n. A duration of three hundred years; the three-hundredth anniversary of an event, or a celebration of it.
| 1855 W. G. Clark in Cambr. Ess. 283 The grammar-schools, which have for the most part celebrated their tercentenary. 1879 Sat. Rev. 4 Oct. 412/1 Duo-centenaries, ter-centenaries, and quin-centenaries have all lately taken place. 1884 Nonconf. & Indep. 17 July 698/2 The tercentenary of the death of William of Nassau..has been celebrated this week at Delft. |
Hence tercenteˈnarian a., that has lasted three centuries; three hundred years old (cf. centenarian); tercenˈtenarize v. trans. nonce-wd., to celebrate the tercentenary of.
| 1881 Sat. Rev. 23 July 116/2 The wholesale excommunication of a tercentenarian Established Church. 1866 Pall Mall G. 14 Nov. 10 How Shakespeare was lately tercentenarized everybody knows. |