Quaternary

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: qua=ter=nar=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

Quaternary, a. [L. quaternarius consisting of four each, containing four, fr. quaterni four each, fr. quattuor four: cf. F. quaternaire. See Four.].

•  Consisting of four; by fours, or in sets of four.  [1913 Webster]
•  Later than, or subsequent to, the Tertiary; Post-tertiary; as, the Quaternary age, or Age of man.  [1913 Webster]

Quaternary, n. [L. numerus quaternarius: cf. F. quaternaire.].

•  The number four.  Boyle.  [1913 Webster]
•  The Quaternary age, era, or formation. See the Chart of Geology.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Quaternary, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 having four parts.
2 (Quaternary) Geol. of or relating to the most recent period in the Cenozoic era with evidence of many species of present-day plants and animals (cf. PLEISTOCENE, HOLOCENE).

Usage

Cf. Appendix II.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a set of four things.
2 (Quaternary) Geol. the Quaternary period or system.

Etymology

ME f. L quaternarius f. quaterni distrib. of quattuor four

THESAURUS

Quaternary

Little Joe, biquadrate, biquadratic, four, four-legged, four-part diaphony, four-rayed, foursome, foursquare, quad, quadrangle, quadrature, quadrennium, quadric, quadrilateral, quadrille, quadrinomial, quadrivalent, quadruped, quadruplet, quartet, quartic, quartile, quatern, quaternion, quaternity, quatrefoil, rectangle, square, square dance, squaring, tetractinal, tetrad, tetragon, tetragram, tetragrammaton, tetrahedron, tetralogy, tetraphony, tetrapody, tetravalent

ROGET THESAURUS

Quaternary

Four

N quaternity, four, tetrad, quartet, quaternion, square, quarter, tetract, tetragon, quadrangle, rectangle, tetrahedron, quadrature, quadrifoil, quadriform, quadruplet, quatrefoil, tetrapod, quadrangle, quad, quadrupole, quadrivium, four, quaternary, quaternal, quadratic, quartile, tetract, tetractic, tetractinal, tetrad, tetragonal, square, quadrate.

Oldness

N oldness, age, antiquity, cobwebs of antiquity, maturity, decline, decay, senility, seniority, eldership, primogeniture, archaism, thing of the past, relic of the past, megatherium, Sanskrit, tradition, prescription, custom, immemorial usage, common law, old, ancient, antique, of long standing, time-honored, venerable, elder, eldest, firstborn, prime, primitive, primeval, primigenous, paleolontological, paleontologic, paleoanthropological, paleoanthropic, paleolithic, primordial, primordinate, aboriginal, diluvian, antediluvian, protohistoric, prehistoric, antebellum, colonial, precolumbian, patriarchal, preadamite, paleocrystic, fossil, paleozoolical, paleozoic, preglacial, antemundane, archaic, classic, medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, ancestral, black-letter, immemorial, traditional, prescriptive, customary, whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contr, inveterate, rooted, antiquated, of other times, rococo, of the old school, after-age, obsolete, out of date, out of fashion, out of it, stale, old-fashioned, behind the age, old-world, exploded, gone out, gone by, passe, run out, senile, time worn, crumbling, secondhand, old as the hills, old as Methuselah, old as Adam, old as history, Archeozoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Paleogene, Neocene, Quaternary, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent, since the world was made, since the year one, since the days of Methuselah, vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.