quarter

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈk(w)ɔːtə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈk(w)ɔɹ.tɚ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈk(w)oː.tɘ/

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

From Middle English quarter, from Anglo-Norman quarter, from Latin quartarius, from quartus. Compare Spanish cuarto (“room, quarters; quarter”). Doublet of quartier.

quarter (countable and uncountable, plural quarters)

A US quarter, 25 cent coin.

1. A fourth part of something.
   1. (in general sense) Each of four equal parts into which something can be divided; a fourth part. [from 14th c.]

      I ate a quarter of the pizza.

      • 2023 April 5, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Pay deal a positive result”, in RAIL, number 980, page 3:

        For companies such as Trans Pennine Express, it will be even harder. It has the unwelcome claim to being Britain's worst train operator, with recent statistics from the Office of Rail and Road showing it cancelled nearly a quarter of its services in February, with lack of available train crew a real problem.

   2. (now chiefly historical) A measure of capacity used chiefly for grain or coal, varying greatly in quantity by time and location. [from 13th c.]
      • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 204:

        One of these is 1 Hen. V, cap. 10, defining the quarter of corn to be eight struck bushels, and putting fines on purveyors who take more.

   3. A fourth part of a pound; approximately 113 grams. [from 14th c.]
   4. (historical) A measure of length; originally a fourth part of an ell, now chiefly a fourth part of a yard. [from 14th c.]
   5. (now historical) A fourth part of the night; one of the watches or divisions of the night. [from 14th c.]
      • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark vj:[48]:

        And aboute the fourth quartre of the nyght, he cam unto them, walkinge apon the see [...].

   6. (now chiefly financial) A fourth part of the year; 3 months; a term or season. [from 14th c.]
   7. (time) A fourth part of an hour; a period of fifteen minutes, especially with reference to the quarter before or after the hour. [from 15th c.]
   8. (now chiefly historical) A fourth part of a hundredweight. [from 15th c.]
   9. (heraldry) A fourth part of a coat of arms, or the charge on it, larger than a canton and normally on the upper dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side. [from 15th c.]
   10. (Canada, US) A quarter-dollar, divided into 25 cents; the coin of that value minted in the United States or Canada. [from 18th c.]
   11. (sports) One of four equal periods into which a game is divided. [from 19th c.]
   12. (Chester, historical) A quarter of an acre or 40 roods.[1]
2. Place or position.
   1. A region or place. [from 13th c.]
      • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the book number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

        I am to haste, / And all who under me thir Banners wave, / Homeward with flying march where we possess / The Quarters of the North […] .

   2. Each of four parts into which the earth or sky is divided, corresponding to the four cardinal points of the compass. [from 14th c.]
   3. A division or section of a town or city, especially having a particular character of its own, or associated with a particular group etc. [from 16th c.]
   4. One's residence or dwelling-place; (in plural) rooms, lodgings, especially as allocated to soldiers or domestic staff. [from 16th c.]
   5. (figurative, archaic) A topic or area of endeavour.
      • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 10, in The Wrecker:

        “I'll tell you something, too,” retorted the captain, duskily flushing. “I wouldn't sail this ship for the man you are, if you went upon your knees. I've dealt with gentlemen up to now.”
        “I can tell you the names of a number of gentlemen you'll never deal with any more, and that's the whole of Longhurst's gang,” said Jim. “I'll put your pipe out in that quarter, my friend. Here, rout out your traps as quick as look at it, and take your vermin along with you. I'll have a captain in, this very night, that's a sailor, and some sailors to work for him.”

   6. (nautical) The aftmost part of a vessel's side, roughly from the last mast to the stern. [from 16th c.]
      • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 80:

        I was one morning walking the deck, when Rogers, whose watch it was, sitting upon the quarter, called to me in his usual style, ‘Come here, Bill.’

      • 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash‎:

        “My men, the schooner coming up on our weather quarter is a Portuguese pirate.”

   7. (farriery) The part on either side of a horse's hoof between the toe and heel, the side of its coffin. [from 16th c.]
      • [1877], Anna Sewell, “A Strike for Liberty”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 106:

        [A]t last she kicked right over the carriage pole and fell down, after giving me a severe blow on my near quarter.

3. (often plural) A section (of a population), especially one having a particular set of values or interests.

   opposition to the policy came from an unexpected quarter, as well as from certain quarters which had historically opposed it

   all quarters of the socialist movement; praise from Conservative quarters

   • 1897, National and English Review, page 499:

     It is something to have that sacerdotal position so frankly recognized; but, I repeat, the ground of objection is an extraordinary one, coming as it does from a Liberal quarter in politics.

   • 2003, The Advocate, page 44:

     V. Gene Robinson's installation as an Episcopal bishop was greeted largely by silence from gay quarters.

   • 2016, Michael Eric Dyson, The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN:

     […] and principled criticism of Obama from black quarters.

4. (obsolete) Relations between people. [17th c.]
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Cunning”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     I knew two that were competitors for the secretary's place, […] and yet kept good quarter between themselves.

5. Accommodation given to a defeated opponent; mercy; exemption from being killed. [from 17th c.]
   • 1955, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, page 1110:

     Hard fighting and long labour they had still; for the Southrons were bold men and grim, and fierce in despair, and the Easterlings were strong and war-hardened and asked for no quarter.

6. Short forms.
   1. (now rare, rugby, American football) A quarterback. [from 19th c.]
   2. (military slang, now rare) A quartermaster; a quartermaster sergeant. [from 20th c.]
      • 1925, Ford Madox Ford, “Parade's End”, in No More Parades, Penguin, published 2012, page 360:

        Tietjens said: ‘Send the Canadian sergeant-major to me at the double….’ to the quarter.

   3. A quarterfinal. [from 20th c.]

• (one of four equal parts): fourth, fourth part, ¼
• (period of three consecutive months): trimester, cour
• (section of a town): district; ward; neighborhood; ghetto (pejorative); borough (New York City); capitoulate (Toulouse, historical)

• quart

quarter (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to an aspect of a quarter.
2. (chiefly) Consisting of a fourth part, a quarter (¹⁄₄, 25%).

   a quarter hour; a quarter century; a quarter note; a quarter pound

3. (chiefly) Related to a three-month term, a quarter of a year.

   A quarter day is one terminating a quarter of the year.

   A quarter session is one held quarterly at the end of a quarter.

Often used in a combining form quarter-.

• quadruple

quarter (third-person singular simple present quarters, present participle quartering, simple past and past participle quartered)

1. (transitive) To divide into quarters; to divide by four.
2. (transitive) To provide housing for military personnel or other equipment.

   Quarter the horses in the third stable.

3. (intransitive) To lodge; to have a temporary residence.
4. (transitive) To quartersaw.
   • 1758, Thomas Hale, A Compleat Body Of Husbandry, page 333:

     But there is, as in other woods, a great deal of difference between this and the quartered timber.

5. (transitive, historical) To execute (someone) by tying each limb to a different animal (such as a horse) and driving them in different directions.
6. (heraldry) To display different coats of arms in the quarters of a shield.
   • 1950 June, Michael Robbins, “Heraldry of London Underground Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 382:

     It [the Central London Railway] assumed a modest and entirely heraldic device, quartering the arms of the City of London, the parishes of St. George's, Holborn (St. George and the dragon) and St. Marylebone (the Virgin and Child between two lilies […] ), and the county of Middlesex, surmounted by the dragon's wing from the City's crest.

• (to have a temporary residence): stay over, stop; See also Thesaurus:sojourn

• quadruple (multiply by four)

• draw and quarter

Adjective

• "quarter" at Merriam-Webster
• "quarter" in Harrap's Shorter, 2006, p. 761

Borrowed from French cartayer.

quarter (third-person singular simple present quarters, present participle quartering, simple past and past participle quartered)

1. (obsolete) 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.
   • 1821 September–October, [Thomas De Quincey], “(please specify the page)”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, 2nd edition, London: […] [J. Moyes] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1823, →OCLC:

     Every creature that met us would rely upon us for quartering

Inherited from Latin quārtārius. In the military senses, influenced by French quartier.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [kwərˈte]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [kwaɾˈteɾ]

quarter m (plural quarters)

1. fourth (especially of an animal)
2. quarter
3. (nautical) trapdoor

• (fourth): quart
• (urban area): barri, districte
• (barracks): caserna

• • donar quarter
  • esquarterar
  • quartera
  • quarterejar
  • quarteró

   

• “quarter” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “quarter”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “quarter” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “quarter” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From English.

• IPA^(key): /kwaʁ.tɛʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

quarter m (plural quarters)

1. quarter (old measure of corn)

• “quarter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• traquer

• quartere, quartier, quartre, quater, quatere, quatter, qwarter, wharter

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman quarter, from Latin quartārius.

• IPA^(key): /kwarˈteːr/, /ˈkwartər/

quarter (plural quarters)

1. A quarter (fourth part of something):
   1. A quarter of a whole chicken.
   2. One of the four divisions of the earth or sky.
   3. A quarter of the year; a three-month period.
   4. A quarter of the night; a three-hour period.
   5. A quarter of an hour; a 15-minute period.
   6. One of the moon's four phases.
   7. (heraldry) A fourth part of a coat of arms.
2. One of various units of measure:
   1. A unit of capacity (being a quarter of another measure).
   2. A unit of weight (often a quarter of an ounce or pound).
   3. A unit of length (nine inches; being quarter of an ell).
3. Any part, portion, or fragment.
4. A region, locale or place.
5. A certain fencing maneuver.
6. (rare) A direction; a way.

• English: quarter
• Scots: quarter, corter
• Yola: curthere, cortere

• “quartẹ̄̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

• quartier (chiefly mainland Europe)

quarter oblique singular, m (oblique plural quarters, nominative singular quarters, nominative plural quarter)

1. (chiefly Anglo-Norman) quarter (one fourth)

• quarter on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (quartier, supplement)