quarter — ODE

quarter /ˈk(w)ɔːtə

▸ noun

1 each of four equal or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided:

she cut each apple into quarters

a page and a quarter

a quarter of a mile.

▪ a period of three months regarded as one fourth of a year, used especially in reference to financial transactions such as the payment of bills or a company's earnings:

the first quarter of the fiscal year.

▪ a period of fifteen minutes or a point of time marking the transition from one fifteen-minute period to the next:

he sat with his pint until a quarter past nine.

▪ a coin representing 25 cents, a quarter of a US or Canadian dollar.

▪ each of the four parts into which an animal's or bird's carcass may be divided, each including a leg or wing.

▪ one fourth of a lunar month.

▪ (in basketball, American football, and Australian Rules) each of four equal periods into which a game is divided:

there were four scores in the opening quarter.

▪ mainly US English one of four terms into which a school or university year may be divided.

2 one fourth of a pound weight (avoirdupois, equal to 4 ounces).

▪ one fourth of a hundredweight (in the UK 28 lb or in the US 25 lb).

▪ British English a grain measure equivalent to 8 bushels.

3 (quarters) the haunches or hindquarters of a horse:

they have strong, muscular quarters.

4 a part of a town or city having a particular character or use:

a beautiful port city with a fascinating medieval quarter.

5 the direction of one of the points of the compass, especially as a direction from which the wind blows.

▪ a particular but unspecified person, group of people, or area:

we have just had help from an unexpected quarter.

▪ either side of a ship aft of the beam:

he trained his glasses over the starboard quarter.

6 (quarters) rooms or lodgings, especially those allocated to people in military or domestic service:

they lived in RAF married quarters.

7 [mass noun] pity or mercy shown towards an enemy or opponent who is in one's power:

the riot squad gave no quarter.

8 Heraldry each of four or more roughly equal divisions of a shield separated by vertical and horizontal lines.

▪ a square charge which covers the top left (dexter chief) quarter of the field.

▸ verb [with object]

1 divide into four equal or corresponding parts:

peel and quarter the bananas.

▪ historical cut (the body of an executed person) into four parts:

the plotters were hanged, drawn, and quartered.

▪ cut (a log) into quarters, and these into planks so as to show the grain well.

2 (be quartered) [with adverbial of place] be stationed or lodged in a specified place:

many were quartered in tents.

▪ (quarter someone on) impose someone on (another person) as a lodger:

you would have had her quartered on you forever.

3 range over or traverse (an area) in every direction:

we watched a pair of kingfishers quartering the river looking for minnows.

▪ [no object, with adverbial of direction] move at an angle; go in a diagonal or zigzag direction:

his young dog quartered back and forth in quick turns.

4 Heraldry display (different coats of arms) in quarters of a shield, especially to show arms inherited from heiresses who have married into the bearer's family:

Edward III quartered the French royal arms with his own.

▪ divide (a shield) into four or more parts by vertical and horizontal lines.

– ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French quartier, from Latin quartarius ‘fourth part of a measure’, from quartus ‘fourth’, from quattuor ‘four’.