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Quarter   /kwˈɔrtər/  /kˈɔrtər/   Listen
noun
Quarter  n.  
1.
One of four equal parts into which anything is divided, or is regarded as divided; a fourth part or portion; as, a quarter of a dollar, of a pound, of a yard, of an hour, etc. Hence, specifically:
(a)
The fourth of a hundred-weight, being 25 or 28 pounds, according as the hundredweight is reckoned at 100 or 112 pounds.
(b)
The fourth of a ton in weight, or eight bushels of grain; as, a quarter of wheat; also, the fourth part of a chaldron of coal.
(c)
(Astron.) The fourth part of the moon's period, or monthly revolution; as, the first quarter after the change or full.
(d)
One limb of a quadruped with the adjacent parts; one fourth part of the carcass of a slaughtered animal, including a leg; as, the fore quarters; the hind quarters.
(e)
That part of a boot or shoe which forms the side, from the heel to the vamp.
(f)
(Far.) That part on either side of a horse's hoof between the toe and heel, being the side of the coffin.
(g)
A term of study in a seminary, college, etc, etc.; properly, a fourth part of the year, but often longer or shorter.
(h)
pl. (Mil.) The encampment on one of the principal passages round a place besieged, to prevent relief and intercept convoys.
(i)
(Naut.) The after-part of a vessel's side, generally corresponding in extent with the quarter-deck; also, the part of the yardarm outside of the slings.
(j)
(Her.) One of the divisions of an escutcheon when it is divided into four portions by a horizontal and a perpendicular line meeting in the fess point. Note: When two coats of arms are united upon one escutcheon, as in case of marriage, the first and fourth quarters display one shield, the second and third the other. See Quarter, v. t., 5.
(k)
One of the four parts into which the horizon is regarded as divided; a cardinal point; a direction' principal division; a region; a territory. "Scouts each coast light-armed scour, Each quarter, to descry the distant foe."
(l)
A division of a town, city, or county; a particular district; a locality; as, the Latin quarter in Paris.
(m)
(Arch.) A small upright timber post, used in partitions; in the United States more commonly called stud.
(n)
(Naut.) The fourth part of the distance from one point of the compass to another, being the fourth part of 11° 15´, that is, about 2° 49´; called also quarter point.
2.
Proper station; specific place; assigned position; special location. "Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous elements." Hence, specifically:
(a)
(Naut.) A station at which officers and men are posted in battle; usually in the plural.
(b)
Place of lodging or temporary residence; shelter; entertainment; usually in the plural. "The banter turned as to what quarters each would find."
(c)
pl. (Mil.) A station or encampment occupied by troops; a place of lodging for soldiers or officers; as, winter quarters.
(d)
Treatment shown by an enemy; mercy; especially, the act of sparing the life a conquered enemy; a refraining from pushing one's advantage to extremes. "He magnified his own clemency, now they were at his mercy, to offer them quarter for their lives." "Cocks and lambs... at the mercy of cats and wolves... must never expect better quarter."
3.
Friendship; amity; concord. (Obs.) To keep quarter, to keep one's proper place, and so be on good terms with another. (Obs.) "In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom." "I knew two that were competitors for the secretary's place,... and yet kept good quarter between themselves."
False quarter, a cleft in the quarter of a horse's foot.
Fifth quarter, the hide and fat; a butcher's term.
On the quarter (Naut.), in a direction between abeam and astern; opposite, or nearly opposite, a vessel's quarter.
Quarter aspect. (Astrol.) Same as Quadrate.
Quarter back (Football), the player who has position next behind center rush, and receives the ball on the snap back.
Quarter badge (Naut.), an ornament on the side of a vessel near, the stern.
Quarter bill (Naut.), a list specifying the different stations to be taken by the officers and crew in time of action, and the names of the men assigned to each.
Quarter block (Naut.), a block fitted under the quarters of a yard on each side of the slings, through which the clew lines and sheets are reeved.
Quarter boat (Naut.), a boat hung at a vessel's quarter.
Quarter cloths (Naut.), long pieces of painted canvas, used to cover the quarter netting.
Quarter day, a day regarded as terminating a quarter of the year; hence, one on which any payment, especially rent, becomes due. In matters influenced by United States statutes, quarter days are the first days of January, April, July, and October. In New York and many other places, as between landlord and tenant, they are the first days of May, August, November, and February. The quarter days usually recognized in England are 25th of March (Lady Day), the 24th of June (Midsummer Day), the 29th of September (Michaelmas Day), and the 25th of December (Christmas Day).
Quarter face, in fine arts, portrait painting, etc., a face turned away so that but one quarter is visible.
Quarter gallery (Naut.), a balcony on the quarter of a ship. See Gallery, 4.
Quarter gunner (Naut.), a petty officer who assists the gunner.
Quarter look, a side glance. (Obs.)
Quarter nettings (Naut.), hammock nettings along the quarter rails.
Quarter note (Mus.), a note equal in duration to half a minim or a fourth of semibreve; a crochet.
Quarter pieces (Naut.), several pieces of timber at the after-part of the quarter gallery, near the taffrail.
Quarter point. (Naut.) See Quarter, n., 1 (n).
Quarter railing, or Quarter rails (Naut.), narrow molded planks reaching from the top of the stern to the gangway, serving as a fence to the quarter-deck.
Quarter sessions (Eng. Law), a general court of criminal jurisdiction held quarterly by the justices of peace in counties and by the recorders in boroughs.
Quarter square (Math.), the fourth part of the square of a number. Tables of quarter squares have been devised to save labor in multiplying numbers.
Quarter turn, Quarter turn belt (Mach.), an arrangement in which a belt transmits motion between two shafts which are at right angles with each other.
Quarter watch (Naut.), a subdivision of the full watch (one fourth of the crew) on a man-of- war.
To give quarter, or To show quarter (Mil.), to accept as prisoner, on submission in battle; to forbear to kill, as a vanquished enemy.
To keep quarter. See Quarter, n., 3.


verb
Quarter  v. t.  (past & past part. quartered; pres. part. quartering)  
1.
To divide into four equal parts.
2.
To divide; to separate into parts or regions. "Then sailors quartered heaven."
3.
To furnish with shelter or entertainment; to supply with the means of living for a time; especially, to furnish shelter to; as, to quarter soldiers. "They mean this night in Sardis to be quartered."
4.
To furnish as a portion; to allot. (R.) "This isle... He quarters to his blue-haired deities."
5.
(Her.) To arrange (different coats of arms) upon one escutcheon, as when a man inherits from both father and mother the right to bear arms. Note: When only two coats of arms are so combined they are arranged in four compartments. See Quarter, n., 1 (f).


Quarter  v. i.  To lodge; to have a temporary residence.


Quarter  v. i.  To drive a carriage so as to prevent the wheels from going into the ruts, or so that a rut shall be between the wheels. "Every creature that met us would rely on us for quartering."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Quarter" Quotes from Famous Books



... clearly Socialist. The local federations of the unions in many of our leading cities have declared for the Party. Among the national organizations, however, only the Western Federation of Miners, the Brewers, the Hat and Cap Makers, the Bakers, and a few others, numbering together no more than a quarter of a million members, have definitely indorsed Socialism. The Coal Miners, numbering nearly 300,000, have indorsed collective ownership of industry, but without saying anything about the Socialist Party. Besides these, the Socialist Party, of course, has ...
— Socialism As It Is - A Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement • William English Walling
... upon a vocabulary of the Wakash Indians, who, according to Gallatin, "inhabit the island on which Nootka Sound is situated." The short vocabulary given was collected by Jewitt. Gallatin states[103] that this language is the one "in that quarter, which, by various vocabularies, is best known to us." In 1848[104] Gallatin repeats his Wakash family, and again gives the vocabulary of Jewitt. There would thus seem to be no doubt of his intention to give it formal rank as ...
— Seventh Annual Report • Various
... for long distances in regular lines that do not at all resemble the winding courses of our streams. Some of the shorter ones do not reach 500 kilometers (300 miles), others, on the other hand, extend for many thousands, occupying a quarter or sometimes even a third of a circumference of the planet. Some of these are very easy to see, especially that one which is near the extreme left-hand limit of our map and is designated by the name ...
— The Certainty of a Future Life in Mars • L. P. Gratacap
... and when this anointment was completed, he had himself wrapped in flannels and placed in a warm bed. Aramis, as we have already said, had not retired. Seated at his ease in a velvet dressing-gown, he wrote letter after letter in that fine and hurried handwriting, a page of which contained a quarter of a volume. The door was thrown hurriedly open, and the superintendent appeared, pale, agitated, anxious. Aramis looked up: "Good-evening," said he, and his searching look detected his host's sadness and disordered state of mind. "Was your play as good as ...
— Ten Years Later - Chapters 1-104 • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... disappointed, it was the fault of the visitor, not of Paris. She was all things to all men. To some she offered triumphal arches, statues, paintings; to others by day racing, and by night Maxims and the Rat Mort. Some loved her for the book- stalls along the Seine and ateliers of the Latin Quarter; some for her parks, forests, gardens, and boulevards; some because of the Luxembourg; some only as a place where everybody was smiling, happy, and polite, where they were never bored, where they ...
— With the Allies • Richard Harding Davis


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