thirding

Pluralthirdings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A third part of something; one of three equal shares.

   The will granted each daughter a thirding of the family estate.

   Profits were split into thirdings among the three founders.

   Similarthird, share, portion

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of third.

   Note

   A participle with two verbs behind it. One is the everyday sense of dividing something into three equal parts. The other is the informal meeting-room sense of backing a motion that has already been seconded, as in "I'm thirding that." As a gerund it is easily confused with the noun for a third share, which takes a plural (thirdings) and names a portion rather than the act of dividing.

3. 3
   nounobsolete

   An administrative division of a county, being one of the three parts into which it was divided.

   Each thirding held its own assembly to settle local disputes.

   Taxes were collected separately from every thirding of the shire.

   Note

   An obsolete name that explains a living one: in counties such as Yorkshire, the thirding became the riding. It comes from Old Norse þriðjungr, "third part". Once its opening sound wore away in speech, people heard it as riding. In modern writing, call the division a riding, and keep thirding for historical quotation or for the plain "third part" sense.

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