quarter
pronunciation
How to pronounce quarter in British English:
UK [ˈkwɔːtə(r)]
How to pronounce quarter in American English:
US [ˈkwɔːrtər]
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- Noun:
- one of four equal parts
- a district of a city having some distinguishing character
- one of four periods of play into which some games are divided
- a unit of time equal to 15 minutes or a quarter of an hour
- one of four periods into which the school year is divided
- a fourth part of a year; three months
- one of the four major division of the compass
- a quarter of a hundredweight (25 pounds)
- a quarter of a hundredweight (28 pounds)
- a United States coin worth one fourth of a dollar
- an unspecified person
- the rear part of a ship
- piece of leather that comprises the part of a shoe or boot covering the heel and joining the vamp
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- Verb:
- provide housing for (military personnel)
- pull (a person) apart with four horses tied to his extremities, so as to execute him
- divide into quarters
- divide by four; divide into quarters
Word Origin
- quarter
- quarter: [13] Quarter is one of a large family of English words that go back ultimately to Latin quattuor ‘four’ and its relatives. Direct descendants of quattuor itself are actually fairly few – among them quatrain [16] and quatrefoil [15] (both via Old French). But its ordinal form quārtus ‘fourth’ has been most prolific: English is indebted to it for quart [14], quarter (via the Latin derivative quartārius ‘fourth part’), quartet [18], and quarto [16].In compounds quattuor assumed the form quadr-, which has given English quadrangle [15] (and its abbreviation quad [19]), quadrant [14], quadratic [17], quadrille [18], quadruped [17], quadruplet [18] (also abbreviated to quad [19]), quarantine, quarrel ‘arrow’, not to mention the more heavily disguised cadre [19], carfax [14] (which means etymologically ‘four-forked’), squad, and square.And the derivative quater ‘four times’ has contributed carillon [18] (etymologically a peal of ‘four’ bells), quaternary [15], and quire of paper [15] (etymologically a set of ‘four’ sheets of paper).=> cadre, carfax, carillon, quad, quarrel, quarry, quire, squad, square
- quarter (n.)
- c. 1300, "one-fourth of anything; one of four parts or divisions of a thing;" often in reference to the four parts into which a slaughtered animal is cut, from Old French quartier, cartier (12c.), from Latin quartarius "fourth part," from quartus "fourth" (see quart). One of the earliest dated references in English is to "parts of the body as dismembered during execution" (c. 1300). Used of the phases of the moon from early 15c. The use of quarter of an hour is attested from mid-15c. In Middle English quarter also meant "one of the four divisions of a 12-hour night" (late 14c.), and the quarter of the night meant "nine o'clock p.m." (early 14c.). From late 14c. as "one of the four quadrants of the heavens;" hence, from the notion of the winds, "a side, a direction" (c. 1400). In heraldry from mid-14c. as "one of the four divisions of a shield or coat of arms." The word's connection with "four" loosened in Middle English and by 15c. expressions such as six-quartered for "six-sided" are found. Meaning "region, locality, area, place" is from c. 1400. Meaning "portion of a town" (identified by the class or race of people who live there) is first attested 1520s. For military sense, see quarters. As a period of time in a football game, from 1911. Quarter horse, bred strong for racing on quarter-mile tracks, first recorded 1834. The coin (one fourth of a dollar) is peculiar to U.S., first recorded 1783. But quarter could mean "a farthing" in Middle English (late 14c.), and compare British quadrant "a farthing" (c. 1600), and classical Latin quadrans, the name of a coin worth a quarter of an as (the basic unit of Roman currency). Quarter days (mid-15c.), designated as days when rents were paid and contracts and leases began or expired, were, in England, Lady day (March 25), Midsummer day (June 24), Michaelmas day (Sept. 29), and Christmas day (Dec. 25); in Scotland, keeping closer to the pagan Celtic calendar, they were Candlemas (Feb. 2), Whitsunday (May 15), Lammas (Aug. 1), and Martinmas (Nov. 11). Quarter in the sense "period of three months; one of the four divisions of a year" is recorded from late 14c.
- quarter (v.)
- "to cut in quarters, divide into four parts," mid-14c., from quarter (n.). Specifically as the word for a form of criminal punishment from late 14c. (Old English had slitcwealm "death by rending"). Related: Quartered; quartering. The meaning "to put up soldiers" is recorded from 1590s (see quarters).
Synonym
lenience compassionateness mercy indulgence humanity grace lenity mercifulness humaneness clemency pity compassion foregiveness leniency
precinct block place land harrio parts province terrain territory section area zone region district neighborhood country
Example
- 1. More than a quarter of these are in germany .
- 2. The sale was finalised last quarter .
- 3. The european quarter of brussels is an odd place .
- 4. Accidents weresurprisingly few ; I saw only two in a quarter of an hour .
- 5. Now they get a quarter of it .