Definition of quaternary Quaternary

/kwɑˈtɚnɛˌɹi/ - [kwaterneree] - qua•ter•nar•y

We found 11 definitions of quaternary from 6 different sources.

What does quaternary mean?

Noun
quaternary - last 2 million years
		Quaternary period, Age of Man
		age of mammals, cenozoic, cenozoic era approximately the last 63 million years
		holocene, holocene epoch, recent, recent epoch approximately the last 10,000 years
quaternary - the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one
		four, 4, IV, tetrad, quatern, quaternion, quaternity, quartet, quadruplet, foursome, Little Joe

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quaternary (a.)
Consisting of four; by fours, or in sets of four.
quaternary (a.)
Later than, or subsequent to, the Tertiary; Post-tertiary; as, the Quaternary age, or Age of man.
quaternary (n.)
The number four.
quaternary (n.)
The Quaternary age, era, or formation. See the Chart of Geology.

quaternary
The geologic period beginning two to three million years ago and extending to the present.

quaternary
kwa-tėr′nar-i, adj. consisting of four: by fours: pertaining to strata more recent than the Upper Tertiary: (math.) containing four variables.—n. a group of four things.—adjs. Quāt′ern, Quāter′nāte, composed of, or arranged in, sets of four.—n. Quāter′nion, a set or group of four: a word of four syllables: (pl.) in mathematics, a calculus of peculiar power and generality invented by Sir W. R. Hamilton of Dublin, as a geometry, primarily concerning itself with the operations by which one directed quantity or vector is changed into another.—v.t. to divide into quaternions: (Milt.) to divide into companies.—ns. Quāter′nionist, a student of quaternions; Quātern′ity, the state of being four, a group of four.—Quaternary number, ten; so called by the Pythagoreans because equal to 1 + 2 + 3 + 4