<B>quarter, </B>noun, verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>one of four equal parts; half of a half; one fourth. <BR> <I>Ex. Each of the four boys had a quarter of an apple.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>one fourth of a dollar; 25 cents. <BR> <I>Ex. These candies are one pound for a quarter.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a copper and nickel coin of the United States, or a nickel coin of Canada, worth 25 cents. It was formerly made of silver. <BR> <I>Ex. Do you have change for a quarter?</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>one fourth of an hour; 15 minutes. <BR> <I>Ex. I've scarcely been ten minutes ... at least a quarter it can hardly be (Byron).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the moment marking this period. <BR> <I>Ex. "The quarter's gone!" cried Mr. Tapley (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>one fourth of a year; 3 months. <BR> <I>Ex. Many savings banks pay interest every quarter.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>one fourth of a school year. <BR> <I>Ex. He had withdrawn Miss Mannering from the school at the end of the first quarter (Scott).</I> <DD><B> c. </B>one of four equal periods of play in certain games, such as football, basketball, soccer, or hockey. <DD><B> 5. </B>one of the four periods of the moon, lasting about 7 days each. (SYN) phase. <DD><B> 6a. </B>one fourth of a yard; 9 inches. <DD><B> b. </B>one fourth of a mile; 440 yards. <BR> <I>Ex. He runs a fast quarter for a youngster.</I> <DD><B> 7a. </B>one fourth of a hundredweight; 25 pounds in the United States or 28 pounds in Great Britain. <DD><B> b. </B>one fourth of a pound; 4 ounces avoirdupois or 3 ounces troy. <DD><B> c. </B>(British.) one fourth of a cartload of grain, about 8 bushels. <BR> <I>Ex. a quarter of oats.</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>a region; place. <BR> <I>Ex. to visit a distant quarter. It was the opinion of Mark Lescarbot ... that the immediate descendants of Noah peopled this quarter of the globe (Washington Irving).</I> (SYN) locality. <DD><B> 9. </B>a section; district. <BR> <I>Ex. the French quarter. The quarter they lived in was near the railroad. ... the almost unmapped quarter inhabited by artists, musicians, and "people who wrote" (Edith Wharton).</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>a certain part of a community, group, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. information from a reliable quarter. The bankers' theory was not accepted in other quarters.</I> <DD><B> 11a. </B>a point of the compass; direction. <BR> <I>Ex. We learned that each of the four principal points of the compass is called a quarter. From what quarter did the wind blow?</I> <DD><B> b. </B>one fourth of the distance between any two adjacent points of the 32 marked on a compass; 2 degrees 48 minutes 45 seconds. <DD><B> 12a. </B>mercy shown a defeated enemy in sparing his life. <BR> <I>Ex. The pirates gave no quarter to their victims.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) kindly or merciful treatment; indulgence. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] gave no quarter to his singers and extracted every ounce of power out of the orchestra (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 13a. </B>one of the four parts into which an animal's carcass is divided in butchering. <BR> <I>Ex. a quarter of lamb.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>one of the four legs of an animal, with its adjoining parts. <BR> <I>Ex. The cattle were so small that a stout native could walk off with an entire quarter (Herman Melville).</I> <DD><B> c. </B>either side of a horse's hoof, between heel and toe. <DD><B> 14. </B>the part of a ship's side near the stern. <BR> <I>Ex. All the stern and quarter of her was beaten to pieces with the sea (Daniel Defoe).</I> <DD><B> 15. </B>(Heraldry.) <DD><B> a. </B>one of the four (or more) parts into which a shield is divided by lines at right angles. <DD><B> b. </B>an emblem occupying the upper right fourth of a shield. <DD><B> 16. </B>the part of a boot or shoe above the heel and below the top of either side of the foot from the middle of the back to the vamp. <DD><B> 17. </B>(Architecture.) an upright post in partitions, to which the laths are nailed. <DD><B> 18. </B>(Music.) a quarter note. <BR> <I>Ex. That tone is held for two quarters.</I> <DD><B> 19. </B><B>=quarterback.</B> <DD><B> 20. </B>(Archaic.) treatment; terms. <BR> <I>Ex. They will give thee fair quarter (Scott).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1a. </B>to divide into fourths. <BR> <I>Ex. Mother quartered the apple for the four boys.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to divide into parts. <BR> <I>Ex. to quarter a chicken for frying.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>to give a place to live in; station; lodge. <BR> <I>Ex. Coligny ... quartered all the women in the cathedral and other churches (John L. Motley).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to impose (soldiers) on a household or community for food and lodging; billet. <BR> <I>Ex. Soldiers were quartered in all the houses of the town.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to cut the body of (a person) into quarters as a sign of disgrace after hanging, a practice of former times. <DD><B> 4. </B>to place or bear (heraldic bearings) in quarters of a shield. <BR> <I>Ex. The royal banner of England, quartering the lion, the leopard, and the harp (Hawthorne).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to range over (ground) in every direction in search of game. <BR> <I>Ex. You could see the owls abroad ... before sunset, in quest of prey, quartering the ground like harriers (W. H. Hudson).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to live or stay in a place. <BR> <I>Ex. the village where he proposed to quarter for the night (Scott).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Nautical.) (of the wind) to blow on a ship's quarter. <BR> <I>Ex. She [a ship] came down upon us with the wind quartering (Daniel Defoe).</I> <DD><B> 3a. </B>to range in every direction. <BR> <I>Ex. The dogs quartered, seeking game.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to move in a slanting direction. <BR> <I>Ex. The swimmer quartered because of the strong current.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to enter a new quarter. <BR> <I>Ex. The new moon's quartered in with foul weather (Frederick Marryat).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>being one of four equal parts; being equal to only about one fourth of full measure. <BR> <I>Ex. a quarter inch, reduced to quarter rations.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) less than half; far from complete; very imperfect (used with a hyphen in combinations). <BR> <I>Ex. a quarter-liberal, a quarter-baked theory; quarter-truths.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>at close quarters,</B> </I>very close together; almost touching. <BR> <I>Ex. The cars had to pass at close quarters on the narrow mountain road. Living at close quarters, the father and mother quarreled constantly, and the boy had to witness these quarrels (Edmund Wilson).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>cry</B> (<B>for</B>) <B>quarter,</B> </I>to call for mercy. <BR> <I>Ex. Cry For quarter, or for victory (Byron).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>quarters,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>a place to live or stay in. </I> <I>Ex. The circus has its winter quarters in the South. The servants have quarters in a cottage.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>positions or stations assigned to members of a ship's company for battle, drill, or alerts. <BR> <I>Ex. Call the drummer ... and let him beat to quarters (Frederick Marryat).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="quarterage">
<B>quarterage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a quarterly payment, charge, or allowance. <BR> <I>Ex. A half-starved Clerk, eked out his lean quarterage, by these merry perquisites (Benjamin Disraeli).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>the quartering of troops. <DD><B> b. </B>quarters for troops. </DL>
<A NAME="quarterback">
<B>quarterback, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>an offensive back who stands directly behind the center in football. The quarterback calls the plays on offense, and usually receives the ball directly from the center, handing it off to a running back or passing it to one of his receivers. <DD><B> b. </B>the position of quarterback. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person who directs any group or activity. <BR> <I>Ex. The third-base coach is the quarterback of the team; he calls the signals on a relay from the manager (New York Times).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to serve as quarterback of; direct the activities of. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) Fullback dad is the provider, mother quarterbacks the housekeeping (Maclean's). (Figurative.) A less wishful and probably sounder conjecture is that Ho has gone back to his old trick of standing behind the lines and quarterbacking Communist strategy for all Southeast Asia (Time).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to serve as a quarterback. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) So at the very least you would expect the Republican followers to show some interest, if no more than the Monday morning quarterbacking of indignation and disgust (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="quarterbacksneak">
<B>quarterback sneak,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Football.) a play in which the quarterback does not hand off the ball, but keeps it and charges forward. <BR> <I>Ex. It was Lalla, on a quarterback sneak, who took the ball over from 1 foot out (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="quarterbinding">
<B>quarter binding,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a style of bookbinding in which only the back is made of leather, as distinguished from half binding or three-quarter binding. </DL>
<A NAME="quarterboat">
<B>quarter boat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any boat hung on davits over a ship's quarter. <BR> <I>Ex. We ... lowered away the quarter boats, and went ashore (Richard H. Dana).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="quarterbound">
<B>quarter-bound, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (of a book) bound in quarter binding. </DL>
<A NAME="quartercrack">
<B>quarter crack,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a crack in the side wall of a horse's hoof resulting in lameness. </DL>
<A NAME="quarterday">
<B>quarter day,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a day beginning or ending a quarter of the year, especially for dating rents, salaries, or other arrangements. In England, the quarter days are March 25 (Lady Day), June 24 (Midsummer Day), September 29 (Michaelmas), and December 25 (Christmas). </DL>
<A NAME="quarterback">
<B>quarterback, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>an offensive back who stands directly behind the center in football. The quarterback calls the plays on offense, and usually receives the ball directly from the center, handing it off to a running back or passing it to one of his receivers. <DD><B> b. </B>the position of quarterback. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person who directs any group or activity. <BR> <I>Ex. The third-base coach is the quarterback of the team; he calls the signals on a relay from the manager (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="quarterdecker">
<B>quarterdecker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a person, especially a ship's officer, who is looked upon more as a stickler for small points of etiquette and trivial rules than as a thorough master of his job. </DL>
