quarter (quar|ter)

noun

• 1each of four equal or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided: she cut each apple into quarters a page and a quarter a quarter of a mile
• a period of three months regarded as one fourth of a year, used especially in reference to financial transactions such as the payment of bills or a company’s earnings: the first quarter of the fiscal year
• a period of fifteen minutes or a point of time marking the transition from one fifteen-minute period to the next: he sat with his pint until a quarter past nine
• a coin representing 25 cents, a quarter of a US or Canadian dollar.
• each of the four parts into which an animal’s or bird’s carcass may be divided, each including a leg or wing.
• one fourth of a lunar month.
• (in basketball, American football, and Australian Rules) each of four equal periods into which a game is divided: there were four scores in the opening quarter
• chiefly US one of four terms into which a school or university year may be divided.

• 2one fourth of a pound weight (avoirdupois, equal to 4 ounces).
• one fourth of a hundredweight (British 28 lb or US 25lb).
• British a grain measure equivalent to 8 bushels.

• 3 (quarters) the haunches or hindquarters of a horse: they have strong, muscular quarters

• 4a part of a town or city having a particular character or use: a beautiful port city with a fascinating medieval quarter

• 5the direction of one of the points of the compass, especially as a direction from which the wind blows.
• a particular but unspecified person, group of people, or area: we have just had help from an unexpected quarter
• either side of a ship aft of the beam: he trained his glasses over the starboard quarter

• 6 (quarters) rooms or lodgings, especially those allocated to servicemen or to staff in domestic service: they lived in RAF married quarters

• 7 [mass noun] pity or mercy shown towards an enemy or opponent who is in one’s power: the riot squad gave no quarter

• 8 Heraldry each of four or more roughly equal divisions of a shield separated by vertical and horizontal lines.
• a square charge which covers the top left (dexter chief) quarter of the field.

verb

• 1divide into four equal or corresponding parts: peel and quarter the bananas
• historical cut (the body of an executed person) into four parts: the plotters were hanged, drawn, and quartered
• cut (a log) into quarters, and these into planks so as to show the grain well.

• 2 (be quartered) [with adverbial of place] be stationed or lodged in a specified place: many were quartered in tents
• (quarter someone on) impose someone on (another person) as a lodger: you would have had her quartered on you forever

• 3range over or traverse (an area) in every direction: we watched a pair of kingfishers quartering the river looking for minnows
• [no object, with adverbial of direction] move at an angle; go in a diagonal or zigzag direction: his young dog quartered back and forth in quick turns

• 4 Heraldry display (different coats of arms) in quarters of a shield, especially to show arms inherited from heiresses who have married into the bearer’s family: Edward III quartered the French royal arms with his own
• divide (a shield) into four or more parts by vertical and horizontal lines.