Obs. exc. Hist. [ad. late L. ternāri-us: see TERNARY.] A student of the third or lowest rank at St. Andrews, and app. in other of the Scottish Universities.
1698. (July) Minute, St. Leonard’s Coll., St. Andrews. Many are of opinion that the distinctions of Primar, Secondar, and Ternar, ought to be taken away.
1807. Grierson, St. Andrews, 160. The Terners had gowns of an inferior sort of cloth, without trimming, and paid one guinea and a half of fees. Seconders and Terners are the only distinctions now in use.
1827. Evid. Commissioners Scot. Univ. (1837), III. 35. (St. Andrews) The Primars are the sons of Noblemen; the Secondars are what they call Gentlemen Commoners in England; and the Ternars are those of the common ranks of life. They pay different fees according to the rank they hold.
1907. Lang, Hist. Scotl., IV. xiii. 407. Men who could afford to pay a Secondar’s fee often entered themselves as Ternars.
