ternary, a. and n.
(ˈtɜːnərɪ)
[ad. late L. ternārius consisting of three, f. tern-ī: see ternal and -ary1. Cf. F. ternaire (15th c.).]
A. adj.
1. a. Pertaining to, consisting of, compounded of, or characterized by a set (or sets) of three; threefold, triple. ternary system (of classification), one in which each division is into three parts.
| c 1430 Art Nombryng 19 Some vsen forto distingue the nombre by threes, and ay begynne forto wirche vndre the first of the last ternary other uncomplete nombre. 1596 Bell Surv. Popery ii. ii. vi. 169 The ternarie number doth not determine the apparitions in themselues. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1302 This ternary or threefold number. 1659 Owen Div. Orig. Script. Wks. 1853 XVI. 340 The Trinity..is a trinity in unity, or the ternary number of persons in the same essence. 1715 Cheyne Philos. Princ. Relig. ii. 129 The Profane and Ignorant may make a Jest of this Ternary Chain. 1724 Waterland Further Vind. Christ's Div. iv. §10 The equality is mentioned as belonging to the ternary number, here considered as a figure of the Trinity. 1881 Westcott & Hort Grk. N.T. Introd. §152 Ternary variations in which each of the three groups approximately attests a different variant. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. s.v. Symmetry, If [the angle is] 120°, or the crystal repeats itself three times, the symmetry is threefold or ternary and the axis is a triad axis. |
b. Mus. ternary measure or ternary time: triple time (? obs.). ternary form: the form of a movement which consists of three main divisions, spec. one in which the first subject recurs after a contrasting subject; also absol. as ternary.
| [1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., The last of the two minimes is marked with a pricke..for perfections sake, that the ternary number may be obserued.] 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Measure, Ternary, or triple measure, is..where two minims are played during a fall, and but one in a rise. 1875 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Mus. Form & Gen. Composition vi. 41 (heading) Of the ternary form. Ibid. vii. 44 If the minuet form is adopted for a complete and isolated composition, it should be lengthened considerably, and then both the minuet and trio may be written in the ternary form. 1896 W. H. Hadow Sonata Form iv. 29 In its use for purposes of the Folk-song the most primitive Ternary form consists of a melody in three clauses: one of assertion..one of contrast..one of re-assertion. 1898 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Ternary form, rondo form. Ternary measure, triple time. 1908 Athenæum 18 July 78/1 Another interesting instance of modification is that of binary form, which by expansion became ternary. 1931 D. F. Tovey Compan. Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas 2 The vital distinction between ‘binary’ and ‘ternary’ is that between an aggregate whose members are inseparable and an aggregate containing one or more things already complete. 1938 Oxf. Compan. Mus. 334/2 Properly, any composition in which the ear seizes two clear divisions is binary, and any in which it seizes three is ternary... ‘Sonata Form’..is often called ‘Compound Binary’... Certain text-books..speak of it as ‘Ternary’. Ibid. 335/1 Rondo Form. This may be looked upon as an extension of simple ternary form. 1944 W. Apel Harvard Dict. Mus. 88/1 The principle of ternary structure appeared first in the French chansons of the 16th century... The idea of a contrasting middle section is quite clearly expressed in the shepherd's solo of Monteverdi's Orfeo... Ternary form became clearly established in the da-capo aria, c. 1700. 1980 New Grove Dict. Mus. XVIII. 694/1 Tripartite musical form designated symbolically as ABA. The two elements A and B are often thematically independent and each is generally a ‘closed’ structure tonally, so that the interdependence of the two sections characteristic of binary form is not necessarily evident in ternary. |
c. Chem. and Min. Compounded or consisting of three elements or constituents; (of an alloy), composed of three principal metals; (of a mixture) containing three independent components; of or pertaining to such an alloy or mixture.
† By Dalton used in the sense ‘consisting of three atoms’.
| 1808 Henry in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 283 Oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, united in the form of a ternary compound. 1808 Dalton Chem. Philos. i. 213 If there are two bodies, A and B,..1 atom of A + 2 atoms of B = 1 atom of D, ternary. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 22 These ternary compounds, such as starch, gum, sugar,..are non-nitrogenized. 1851 Richardson Geol. 464 Perfect granite is a ternary compound of quartz, felspar, and di-axial mica, universally diffused. 1864 H. Spencer Biol. I. 11 In chemical stability these ternary compounds..are in a marked degree below the binary ones. 1889 Proc. R. Soc. XLV. 481 Ternary alloys obtained by adding tin to the immiscible pairs of metals, zinc and bismuth, aluminium and lead. 1897 W. D. Bancroft Phase Rule xi. 156 The change of isotherms with the temperature for a ternary system which permits of no compounds and no second solution phase. 1923 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics V. 251/2 (heading) Methods of representing ternary equilibria. 1969 Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xi. 261 The theoretical succession of deposition of minerals produced by the evaporation of sea-water is supported to a large extent by experimental work... However, the detailed course of crystallization, which varies considerably with different temperatures, can only be adequately represented by ternary diagrams. 1978 P. W. Atkins Physical Chem. x. 305 Consider a ternary solution of composition a1. This is unsaturated, and is a single phase. 1979 Sci. Amer. Nov. 73/3 The new ternary alloys consist of between 68 and 80 percent copper. |
d. Bot. Arranged in threes around a common axis: usually in reference to the parts of a flower.
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 251 The ternary division of the flower of Monocotyledons is often departed from..; many Dicotyledons have also ternary floral envelopes. 1866 Treas. Bot., Ternary, ternate, when three things are in opposition round a common axis. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 12 Berberideæ..analogy..in the 3-nary floral whorls with Monocotyledons. |
e. Math. Constructed on the number three as a base, as ternary logarithm, ternary scale (of notation); involving three variables, as ternary quantic.
| 1860 Cayley Math. Papers IV. 604 The number of variables (the function being homogeneous) is denoted by the words binary, ternary, &c. 1898 Ibid. XIV. Index, Ternary Quadratics... Ternary Quadrics... Ternary Quantics. |
f. Astron. ternary system, a system of three stars which revolve under mutual attraction, or round a common centre.
g. Nuclear Physics. ternary fission, fission of an atomic nucleus into three parts.
| 1955 Physical Rev. XCVII. 748/2 There is some uncertainty regarding the occurrence in ternary fission of a light fragment having a mass and charge greater than an alpha particle. 1979 Nature 12 Apr. 615/2 Uranium and plutonium decay by ternary fission with only very low probability. |
† 2. ternary part, one of three equal parts; a third part. Obs. rare—1.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 108/2 Which poulder we must diuide into 3 æquall portions, then take therof a ternary parte. |
3. Last of each successive group of three; third.
| 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 339 [In extracting roots] Squares..are to be marked with Points..over every Binary or second Figure. Cubes over every Ternary Figure. |
4. Third in subordination, rank, or order.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xlviii. IV. 443 This system..in its ternary groups, equivalent to the Orders of Linné [etc.]. 1829 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 135 The only wonder is, that when they went to the secondary sense, they did not go to the ternary. 1831 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 263 In a secondary and even a ternary reflex. |
B. n.
† 1. a. A set or group of three; a ternion, a trio. Obs.
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. Ded. (Rolls) 3 Make in ȝoure soule to [= two] ternaries, on [= one] in feith anothir in love: beleve in God—Fadir, and Son, and Holy Gost: love God in al ȝoure hert, al ȝoure soule, and al ȝoure mynde. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 48 Put a pricke ouer the fourthe Figure,..ouer the vij...and so forthe, still leauing two figures betweene eche two pricks. And those two roomes betweene the prickes, are called Ternaries. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 377, I conclude this Ternary of Worthies with Cato. 1686 tr. Livy i. i. xxiv. 15 There happened to be..three Brothers in each Army... The two Kings treated with these two ternaries of Brethren. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Gray ¶28 The second ternary of stanzas [in The Progress of Poetry]. |
† b. The Holy Trinity. [So OF. ternaire.] Obs.
| 1570 Dee Math. Pref. *j b, By the infinite goodness of the Almighty Ternarie. 1662 Sparrow tr. Behme's Rem. Wks., 1st Apol. to B. Tylcken 79 There was Joy in Heaven in Ternario Sancto, in the Holy Ternary. |
† 2. A number which is a multiple of three. rare—1.
| 1557 Recorde Whetst. (1558) O iv b, Thei muste all waies bee ternaries, as 3. 6. 9. or 12. &c. |
Hence † ˈternariness Obs. rare, ternary condition. So † terˈnarian, † terˈnarious adjs., = ternary a.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Ternary, Ternarious, of or belonging to three. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 266 So the likeness of ternariness shall cease, & such an image shall badly square with the Type, whose image it is believed to be. 1715–20 Pope Iliad III. 214 The ternarian number. |