quarter

noun

1. (broadly, countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.

   “I ate a quarter of the pizza.”

   “A majority of companies in the S&P 500 have at least one woman on their boards, but only about a quarter have more than two, according to a study from PwC.”

   “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. (countable, historical, uncountable)A fourth part of something.

   “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. (countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
4. (countable, historical, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
5. (countable, historical, uncountable)A fourth part of something.

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

6. (countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.

   “The FBI began publishing national quarterly crime reports last year, but has not done so for the first two quarters of 2021, stating that they require at least 60% of agencies to submit NIBRS data in order to publish quarterly data.”

   “The Shanghai-based company reported Wednesday that net profit soared 246% to 28 billion yuan ($3.9 billion) in the first quarter of 2024, more than double the average analyst estimate of 12.62 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), according to LSEG data.”

7. (countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.

   “An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces.”

8. (countable, historical, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
9. (countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
10. (Canada, US, countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
11. (countable, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
12. (countable, historical, uncountable)A fourth part of something.
13. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.

    “She could not suggest in what quarter of London the shop in question was likely to be as the deceased was accustomed to go about a good deal.”

14. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.

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

15. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.
16. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.
17. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.
18. (archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable)Place or position.
19. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.

    “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.’”

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

20. (countable, uncountable)Place or position.

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

21. (countable, uncountable)The back and sides of the upper of a shoe, extending around the wearer's heel to meet the vamp.
22. (countable, often, plural, uncountable)A section (of a population), especially one having a particular set of values or interests.

    “We got help form every quarter.”

    “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”

    “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.”

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

23. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Relations between people.

    “In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom.”

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

24. (countable, uncountable)Accommodation given to a defeated opponent; mercy; exemption from being killed.

    “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.”

25. (abbreviation, archaic, countable, uncountable)A quarterback.
26. (abbreviation, archaic, countable, slang, uncountable)A quartermaster; a quartermaster sergeant.

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

27. (abbreviation, countable, uncountable)A quarterfinal.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Pertaining to an aspect of a quarter.
2. (not-comparable)Consisting of a fourth part, a quarter (¹⁄₄, 25%).

   “a quarter hour; a quarter century; a quarter note; a quarter pound”

3. (not-comparable)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.”

verb

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

   “Quarter the horses in the third stable.”

   “I thought that I might as well quarter myself on you for a couple of days.”

3. (intransitive)To lodge; to have a temporary residence.
4. (transitive)To quartersaw.

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

5. (historical, transitive)To execute (someone) by tying each limb to a different animal (such as a horse) and driving them in different directions.
6. To display different coats of arms in the quarters of a shield.

   “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.”

7. (transitive)To range to and fro over an area; to move from point to point.
8. (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.

   “Every creature that met us would rely upon us for quartering”

name

1. A village in South Lanarkshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS7251).