quad

noun

1. (obsolete)Clipping of quadrat.

   ““Quadrats, sir. We call 'em quads.” […] Quads are the spaces left between the paragraphs that come white on the paper. If you look here, at this page that is set-up, you will see that they are deeper than the spaces left between the words and letters—regular little trenches.”

   “Horizontal spacing is further divided into multiples and fractions of the em. The multiples are called quads. The fractions are called spaces.”

   “Other larger spaces – known as quads – were used to space out lines.”

2. (obsolete, slang)Clipping of quadrat.
3. (obsolete)Clipping of quadrat.
4. (informal)A quadrangle (quadrangular courtyard).

   “Gilt-backed books on gilded shelf or table caught the eye, and as you turned your glance from the luxurious interiors to the well-shorn lawn in the Quad with its classic fountain also gilded by sunbeams, the mental vision saw plainly written over the whole "The Union of Luxury and Learning."”

   “Every spring, the quad on the University of Washington (UW) campus transforms from a peaceful green space to a bustling habitat for hundreds of shuttering cameras, families, and onlookers.”

   “The teenage couple is lounging on the lawn outside a high school, taking advantage of a free period between classes in that age-old way: making out on the quad.”

5. (colloquial, dated)A horse, from colloquial or humorous quadruped specifically for horse.

   “The quads is all right, barrin’ that the bay is blind o’ the left eye, and the chestnut a bit weak in the off fore.”

6. Something that is quadruple (four times) the usual amount, number, etc.
7. Something that is quadruple (four times) the usual amount, number, etc.
8. Something that is quadruple (four times) the usual amount, number, etc.

   “A grande iced quad latte with milk is $6.65 + tax, whereas a quad over ice with milk added at the self-serve station is only $3.65 + tax”

9. Something that is quadruple (four times) the usual amount, number, etc.

   “These are the quads I recommend for newbies.”

   “When you can skate, inline, ice, quads are all equally enjoyable as long as they are of good enough quality.”

10. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping)Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).

    “The Pair, Triples, and Quads can be formed with both Honor and Suit Tiles.”

    “Object of the game: To use up all the tiles by playing them in quads. A quad is four consecutive numbers running in ascending or descending order, and played in a straight line.”

    “Each person on the team could be exclusively responsible for taking care of and keeping records for one set of four plants (a quad).”

11. Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).
12. Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).
13. (informal)Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).

    “My husband Jim was home[…] and so were my children: Samantha, 4, and the quadruplets, Zachary, Danielle, Amanda, and Elisabeth. The quads were eighteen months old and in their usual fine form — singing, banging, pushing each other, and toddling into impossible places.”

14. Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).
15. (Mormonism)Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).
16. (attributive, slang)Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).

    “Both players had four of a kind. A had quad fours; B had quad deuces.”

17. (informal)The quadriceps muscle.

    “Aesthetics aside, if you train your quads while neglecting your hamstrings, you're setting yourself up for an eventual injury.”

18. (informal)Quadruplex videotape.

    “The high band color quadruplex format is recommended for the following reasons: 1. Quad is now the accepted industry standard world-wide with over 90% of all television broadcast operations using this format for video recording.”

19. (informal)A quadriplegic person.

    “The worse was the realization that this was my new reality. This too was Bill's debut as a husband of a quad and his first social gathering since June 22.”

20. A unit of energy equivalent to a quadrillion BTU (10¹⁵ BTU).
21. A small off-road four-wheeled powered vehicle, usually used for recreation or farm work.

    “Cad was a ferocious driver of a quad, much given to wheelies, jumps and stunts in general.”

22. (informal)A quadrilateral.

    “System Rasterization Primitives • Polygons • Triangles, Trapezoids, Quads”

    “schemes have appeared which generate good results when applied to meshes which contain both triangular and quadrilateral regions. These kinds of schemes turn out to be very useful for modelling animations, because there, in symmetric (e.g. cylindrical) areas, quads and vertices with valence 4 are preferred”

    “Tris and quads have different areas of functionality. In real-time graphics, tris are the norm because they provide the most basic geometric representations of planes.”

23. (informal)A quadcopter.

    “Today you can buy quadrotor drones—also known as quadcopters—of just about any kind, for just about any price. The extremely wealthy can buy gold-plated quads, and the rest of us can buy tiny plastic ones.”

24. (informal)A quadrupel beer.

    “So what’s the beer for this great dish? You guessed it — Belgian quad. “I don’t usually pair the same beer with the one used in the recipe,” Bill explains, “but drinking a great quad with this dish really elevates both the food and the beer in a special way.””

adj

1. (not-comparable)Quadruple, four times the usual size or quantity.

   “Printing Plant Machinery, Type, Material, Fittings, Stock-in-Trade, Paper, &c., including QUAD-CROWN CYLINDER MACHINE, With Flyers, Riders, &c., by Miller & Richard.”

   “Around the corner waits a Quad Damage rune, which you can activate before returning to the Teleporter and heading for the Gold Key.”

   “With Mali-400 MP4 GPU, 2GB of RAM and a quad-core Cortex-A9 processor, this tablet is more than capable to handle even the latest graphics intense games”

   “SeaStar Solutions, which makes systems for twin- and triple-outboard powered boats, now offers its Optimus electronic power steering (EPS) for single- and quad-powered boats.”

2. (not-comparable)Quadrille, marked with squares.

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive)To fill spaces in a line of type with quads. Also quad out.
2. (intransitive, transitive)To align text with the left or right margin, or centre it.
3. (transitive)To twist four individually insulated conductors together as two pairs of twisted wires that are then twisted together.

   “Can you "quad" the cable?”

   “The star quadding of the wires ensures a reduction in the diameters of cables and their weight […]”

   “The conductors in quadded cables are tinned and may also be enameled.”

4. (intransitive)To ride a quad bike.

   “visibility was perfect and mud was plentiful for our quadding adventure.”

name

1. (informal)An informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, focused on Asian security matters.

   “China has seen it as a threat to its dominance in the region, saying the Quad is a U.S. attempt to create an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization directly aimed at counterbalancing its interests.”

2. (broadly)A grouping of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India.

   “But coordination in shifts in rates by global groupings like the Group of 7, the Indo-Pacific “Quad” and perhaps the Shangri-La Dialogue in Asia would send a powerful message.”

3. (UK, historical)A coalition committee that resolved party disputes during the Cameron–Clegg coalition.