adverb
ter
ter (not comparable)
Classical[ˈtɛr]Ecclesiastical[ˈtɛr]
Mille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- not comparablethrice, three times
Ter sēsē attollēns cubitōque adnīxa levāvit, ter revolūta torō est [...].
Lifting herself three times, [Dido] had tried to raise upon her elbow, and thrice she had rolled back upon the bed ….29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.690-691‘ter voluī prōmittere opem, ter lingua retenta est:
“Thrice I wanted to promise help, thrice [my] tongue was stayed: the anger of mighty Jupiter was the reason for [my] fear.” (The poetic voice is that of Flora.)8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.247–248 - not comparablethree as understood symbolically in a cultural context
Stant ārae circum, et crīnēs effūsa sacerdōs ter centum tonat ōre deōs, Erebumque Chaosque,
Altars are standing all around [the pyre], and the priestess — with her hair flowing — thunders from her lips thrice a hundred gods’ [names]: Erebus and Chaos, triform Hecate, [and] the three faces of virgin Diana. (The priestess who invokes “ter centum” deities may be calling three hundred gods, 100 gods three times, or “hundreds of” or “a great many,” and some of the named gods have tri-part symbolism. Threes have special significance in myth, folklore and ritual; see: Lease, Emory B., The Number Three, Mysterious, Mystic, Magic. Classical Philology, Jan., 1919, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 56-73.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.509–511 - not comparablerepeatedly; indefinitely
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
tribus vicibuster — in IVLIANVS I: Gallia, ch. 11
tĕr, adv. num. Sanscr. tris; Gr. τρίς; cf. tres,
I. three times, thrice.
I. Lit.: ter sub armis malim vitam cernere, quam semel modo parere, Enn. ap. Varr. L. L. 6, § 81 Müll. (Trag. v. 297 Vahl.):
haec rude misceto ter in die, Cato, R. R. 104, 2: ter in anno, Plaut. Bacch. 5, 2, 9: ter in anno audire nuntium, Cic. Rosc. Am. 46, 132: ter aut quater die perfricari, Cels. 4, 12: is de se ter sortibus consultum dicebat, Caes. B. G. 1, 53: ter aevo functus senex (Nestor), Hor. C. 2, 9, 13; cf.: ter amplus Geryon, tripleheaded, id. ib. 2, 14, 7: pepulisse Ter pede terram, id. ib. 3, 18, 16; 4, 1, 28; id. S. 1, 10, 43: ter consul, Plin. Pan. 80: ter in annum tesseras dare, Suet. Aug. 40 et saep.—With numerals: ter quattuor corpora, Enn. ap. Cic. Div. 1, 48, 108 (Ann. v. 96 Vahl.): ter quinquagenos sues habere, Varr. R. R. 2, 4, 22; cf.: terni ter cyathi, Hor. C. 3, 19, 14; and: ter centena epigrammata, Mart. 2, 1, 1: ter centum milibus, Hor. S. 2, 3, 116; so, ter centum (by many written as one word, tercentum), Verg. A. 1, 272; Ov. M. 14, 146: ter denis redeuntibus annis, Verg. A. 8, 47: ter denas vaccas Accipit, Ov. F. 4, 635: ter deno bove, Sil. 15, 259: ter et viciens volneratus est, Plin. 7, 28, 29, § 104.— II. Transf., in gen., for an indefinite number, = often or repeatedly:
ter sese attollens cubitoque annixa levavit: Ter revoluta toro est, Verg. A. 4, 690: ter si resurgat murus aëneus, ter pereat meis Excisus Argivis; ter uxor Capta virum puerosque ploret, Hor. C. 3, 3, 65 sq.: Aeneam magnā ter voce vocavit, Verg. A. 10, 873; 1, 116; 3, 421; Hor. C. 2, 17, 26 al.: ter tanto pejor ipsa est, Plaut. Pers. 1, 3, 73: ludos apparat ... stulte bis terque, Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 8, 6; so, bis terque, Hor. Epod. 5, 33; id. A. P. 358; 440; Ov. M. 4, 517 al.: bisque terque, Mart. 4, 82, 3: terque quaterque manu pectus percussit, Verg. A. 12, 155; so, terque quaterque, id. G. 2, 399: ter et quater, Hor. C. 1, 31, 13.—B. Esp., with adjj., to denote a high degree:
felices ter et amplius, quos, etc., Hor. C. 1, 13, 17: o ego ter felix, si, etc., thrice happy, thrice fortunate, Ov. M. 8, 51: o terque quaterque beati! Verg. A. 1, 94: o mihi felicem terque quaterque diem, Tib. 3, 3, 26.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
ter adv. num.
cf. Gr. τρίς, tres, three times, thrice : in anno: is de se ter sortibus consultum dicebat, Cs.: ter aevo functus senex, H.—With numerals: ter quattuor corpora, Enn. ap. C.: Terni ter cyathi, H.: ter centum regnabitur annos, V.: ter denas vaccas Accipit, O.— Thrice, repeatedly, again and again : Ter sese attollens, V.: Ter si resurgat murus aëneus, ter pereat meis Excisus Argivis, H.—In phrases with bis or quater , of indefinite repetition, two or three times, thrice or four times, often : bis terque: Terque quaterque, V.—With adjj., thrice, very, exceedingly : Felices ter et amplius, quos, etc., H.: o terque quaterque beati! V.: qui ter amplum Geryonen Compescit, trebly vast , H.
ter centum
num, three hundred, see ter.
Origins
From earlier terr, from Old Latin *tris, from Proto-Italic *tris, from Proto-Indo-European *trís. Cognate with Ancient Greek τρῐ́ς (trĭ́s, “thrice”).