quarter 
When the service has been read, and the last volley has 
been tired over the hurled soldier, the troops inarch to 
quarters with a quick step, and to a lively tune. 
Thackeray, Philip, xxx. 
(d) pi. The cabins inhabited by the negroes on a planta- 
tion, in the period of slavery. [Southern U. S.J 
Let us go out to the quarters, grandpa ; they will be 
dancing by now. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 253. 
4f. [Appar. flue to the phrase to keep quarter 
(ft).] Peace; concord; amity. [Rare.] 
Friends all but now, even now, 
In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom. 
Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 180. 
5f. Friendly intercourse. 
If your more serious business do not call you, 
Let me hold quarter with you ; we will talk 
An hour out quickly. Beau, and Fl., Philaster, ii. 2. 
Alternate quarters, in her. See alternate. Close- 
quarters. Same as date fi'jht.~ Grand quarter, in her. , 
one of the four primary divisions in quartering. Great 
Quarter Court. Same as Court of Assistants (which see, 
under court). On the quarter (naut.), strictly, 45 abaft 
the beam : generally used to designate a position between 
abeam and astern. Quarter binding. See binding. 
Quarter gasket. See </.*(. To beat to quarters. 
See beati. To come to close quarters. See dose'*. To 
keep quartert. (a) To keep the proper place or station. 
They do best who, if they cannot but admit love, yet 
make it keep quarter, and sever it wholly from their seri- 
ous affairs. Bacon, Love (ed. 1887). 
(6) To keep peace. Compare quarter'-. 
I knew two that were competitors for the secretary's 
place in Queen Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quar- 
ter between themselves. Bacon, Cunning (ed. 1887). 
For the Venetians endeavour, as much as in them lies, 
to keep good quarters with the Turk. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 0. 
(ct) To make noise or disturbance : apparently an ironi- 
cal use. 
Sing, hi ho, Sir Arthur, no more in the house you shall 
prate ; 
For all you kept such a quarter, you are out of the councell 
of state. Wright's Political Ballads,?. 150. (HalKweU.) 
This evening come Betty Turner and the two Mercers, 
and W. Batelier, and they had fiddlers, and danced, and 
kept a quarter. Pepys, Diary, III. 360. 
Weather quarter, the quarter of a ship which is on the 
windward side. Winter quarters, the quarters of an 
army during the winter ; a winter residence or station. 
quarter 1 (kwar'ter), v. [< quarter 1 , n. In def. 
II., 5, cf. P. cartayer, drive so that one of the 
two chief ruts shall be between the wheels (thus 
dividing the road into four sections), < quart, 
fourth: see quart 1 ."] I. trans. 1. To divide 
into four equal parts. 
In his silver shield 
He bore a bloodie Crosse that quartred all the field. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 18. 
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom 
And ever three parts coward. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 4. 42. 
2. To divide ; separate into parts ; cut to pieces. 
If you frown upon this proff er'd peace, 
You tempt the fury of my three attendants, 
Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 2. 11. 
Here is a sword baith sharp and broad, 
Will quarter you in three. 
King Malcolm and Sir Calvin (Child's Ballads, III. 380). 
The lawyer and the blacksmith shall be hang'd, 
Quarter'd. Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 1. 
3. To divide into distinct regions or compart- 
ments. 
Then sailors quartered heaven, and found a name 
For every fixed and every wandering star. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, i. 208. 
4. To furnish with lodgings, shelter, or enter- 
tainment; supply with temporary means of 
living; especially, to find lodgings and food 
for: as, to quarter soldiers on the inhabitants. 
Divers soHldiers were quarter'd at my house, but I thank 
God went away the next day towards Flanders. 
Evelyn, Diary, May 1, 1657. 
They would not adventure to bring them to us, but 
quartered them in another house, though in the same 
town. R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 344). 
5f. To diet ; feed. 
Scrimansky was his cousin-german, 
With whom he served, and fed on vermin ; 
And when these fail'd, he'd suck his claws, 
And quarter himself upon his paws. 
S. Butler, Hndibras, I. ii. 268. 
6. To furnish as portion ; deal out; allot; share. 
But this isle, 
The greatest and the best of all the main, 
He quarters to his blue-hair'd deities. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 29. 
When the queen frown'd, or smil'd, he knows . . . 
Whose place is quarter'd out, three parts in four. 
Pope, Satires of Donne, iv. 136. 
7. Iii lirr., to bear quarterly upon one's escutch- 
eon : thus, a man quarter* the arms of his father 
with those of his mother, if she has been HII 
heiress. The verb to quarter is used even when more 
than two coats of arms are united upon one escutcheon, 
and when, therefore, mure than foul 1 compartments ;i]>- 
pear. See quartering, 4. 
308 
4897 
Fllen. They [the Shallow family] may give the dozen white 
luces in their coat ; . . . I may quarter, co/. 
Shal. You may, by marrying. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 28. 
"Look at the banner," said the Abbot ; "tell me what 
are the blazonries." "The arms of Scotland," said Kd- 
\vanl; "the lion and its treasure, quartered . . . with three 
cushions." Scott, Monastery, xxxvii. 
8. In maeli., to make wrist-pin holes in, 90 
apart: said of locomotive driving-wheels. 9. 
In sporting, to range or beat (the ground) for 
game: with indefinite it: said of hunting-dogs. 
In order to complete the education of the pointer in 
ranging or beating his ground, it is not only necessary 
that he should quarter it, as it is called, but that he should 
do it with every advantage of the wind, and also without 
losing time by dwelling on a false scent. 
Doffs of Great Britain and America, p. 229. 
To hang, draw, and quarter. See hang. To quar- 
ter the sea, to bring the sea first on one quarter and 
then on the other : frequently done with a small boat 
running before a heavy sea with plenty of sea-room. 
II. intrans. 1. To be stationed; remain in 
quarters; lodge; have a temporary residence. 
Some fortunate captains 
That quarter with him, and are truly valiant, 
Have tlung the name of Happy Csesar on him. 
Fletcher (and another). False One, iv. 2. 
That night they quartered in the woods. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 163. 
2. Naut., to sail witli the wind on the quarter. 
We were now assured they were Spaniards; and there- 
fore we put away, Quartering, and steering N. W. 
Dampier, Voyages, II. ii. 20. 
3. To shift ; beat about ; change position, so as 
to get advantage of an adversary. 
They quarter over the ground again and again, Tom 
always on the defensive. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Eugby, ii. 5. 
4. In sportini/, to run back and forth in search 
of game, as if going about all quarters, as a 
dog in the field. 5. To drive a carriage diago- 
nally from side to side, so as to keep the wheels 
from entering the ruts. 
The postillion . . . was employed, not by fits and starts, 
but always and eternally, in quartering i. e. in crossing 
from side to side according to the casualties of the 
ground. De Quincey, Autob. Sketches, i. 298. 
quarter 2 (kwar'ter), . [= G. quartier = Sw. 
quarter = Dan. kvarteer, quarter; < F. quartier, 
'quarter, or fair war, where souldiers are taken 
prisoners and ransomed at a certain rate " (Cot- 
grave) (= Sp. cuartel = T?g. quartet = It. quar- 
tiere, quarter), in the phrases donner quartier, or 
faire quartier, give quarter, demantler quartier, 
beg quarter, supposed to have referred orig. to 
the sending of the vanquished to an assigned 
'quarter' or place, there to be detained until 
his liberation, ransom, or slavery should be 
decided : see quarter 1 . The explanation from 
an alleged ' ' custom of the Dutch and Spaniards, 
who accepted as the ransom of an officer or 
soldier a quarter of his pay for a certain period " 
(Imp. Diet.) presents obvious difficulties.] In- 
dulgence or mercy shown to a vanquished 
enemy, in sparing his life and accepting his 
surrender; hence, in general, indulgence; 
clemency; mercy. 
The three that remain'd call'd to Eobin for quarter. 
Robin Hood's Birth (Child's Ballads, V. 360). 
Death a more gen'rous Kage does use ; 
Quarter to all he conquers does refuse. 
Cowley, The Mistress, Thraldom. 
He magnified his own clemency, now that they were at 
his mercy, to offer them quarter for their lives, if they 
gave up the castle. Clarendon. 
Most neople dislike vanity in others, whatevershare they 
have of it themselves ; but I give it fair quarter wherever 
I meet with it. Franklin, Autobiog., I. 83. 
quarterage (kwar'ter-aj), n. [Early mod. E. 
also quarteridge, quartridge; <ME. quarterage, 
< OF. quarterage, quarterage, < quartier, a quar- 
ter: see quarter 1 .'] 1. A quarterly allowance 
or payment, as for tuition or rent. 
Upon every one of the said quarter days, every one that 
is a Freeman of the said Company shall pay to the Master 
for the time being, for his quarteridge, one penny. 
English Qilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 289. 
(A virtuous writer] might have expended more by the 
year by the revenue of his verse than any riotous elder 
brother upon the wealthy quartridyex of three time three 
hundred acres. Middleton, Father Hubbard's Tales. 
In 1711 the quarterage fof Cartmel Grammar School] was 
raised to Is. ed. for Latin and 1*. for English, the poor 
children still to be taught free. 
Baines, Hist. Lancashire, II. 681. 
2. Quarters; lodgment; keeping. 
The warre thus being begun and followed, the Scots 
kept their quarterrage. Hotinxhed, Scotland, an. 1657. 
Any noble residence at which they [great stewards! in- 
tended to claim the free quarterage due to their official 
dignity, while engaged in the examination of the state of 
the district and the administration of the laws by the 
king's command. O'Curry, Ancient Irish, I. xvi. 
quartered 
For quarterage of a soldier, 5*. per week. 
Connecticut Records, II. 386. (Bartlett.) 
3. A certain special tax. See the quotation. 
They [the Roman Catholics] could not obtain the free- 
dom of any town corporate, and were only suffered to carry 
on their trades in their native cities on condition of pay- 
ing special and vexatious impositions known by the name 
of quarterage. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., ii. 
quarter-angled (kwar'ter-ang"gld), a. In //., 
same as quadrate, 5. 
quarter-aspect (kwar'ter-as'pekt), n. In as- 
trol., the aspect of two planets whose positions 
are 90 apart on the zodiac. 
quarter-back (kwar'ter-bak), n. A certain 
player or position in foot-ball. See back 1 , 
n., 12. 
quarter-badge (kwar'ter-baj), n. Naut., orna- 
mentation 011 the quarters of a ship. 
quarter-bend (kwar'ter-bend), n. In a pipe, 
a bend the arc of which subtends an angle of 
90. 
quarter-bill (kwar'ter-bil), n. Naut., a list of 
the stations on board a man-of-war for men to 
take in time of action. 
quarter-bitts (kwar'ter-bits), n. pi. Vertical 
posts or timbers projecting above the deck on 
a vessel's quarter, to which hawsers, tow-lines, 
etc., may be secured. 
quarter-blanket (kwar'ter-blang"ket), n. A 
norse-blanket intended to cover only the back 
and a part of the hips. It is usually put on un- 
der the harness. 
quarter-blocks (kwar'ter-hloks), n. pi. Naut., 
blocks underneath a yard close in amidships, 
for the clew-lines and the sheets of the sail set 
above them to reeve through. 
quarter-board (kwar'ter-bord), n. One of a set 
of thin boards forming an additional height to 
the bulwarks of the after part of a vessel. They 
are also called topgallant-bulwarks. 
quarter-boat (kwar'ter-bot), . Naut., any 
boat hung to davits over a ship's quarter Lar- 
board quarter-boat. See larboard. 
quarter-boot (kwar'ter-bot), n. A leather boot 
to protect the fore feet of horses which over- 
reach with the hind feet. 
quarter-bound (kwar'ter-bound), a. In book- 
binding, bound with pasteboard covers and lea- 
ther or cloth on the back only. 
quarter-boys (kwar'ter-boiz), n.pl. Automata 
which strike the quarter-hours in certain bel- 
fries. Compare jack of the clock, under jack 1 . 
Their quarter-boys and their chimes were designed for 
this moral purpose as much as the memento which is so 
commonly seen upon an old clock face, and so seldom upon 
a new one. Southey, Doctor, xxix. (Dames.) 
quarter-bred (kwar'ter-bred), a. Having only 
one fourth pure blood, as horses, cattle, etc. 
quarter-cask (kwar'ter-kask), . A small cask 
nolding 28 gallons or thereabouts. 
quarter-cast (kwar'ter-kast), a. Cut in the 
quarter of the hoof: said of horses operated 
upon for some disease of the hoof. 
quarter-cleft (kwar'ter-kleft), a. Same as 
quartered, 4. 
quarter-cloth (kwar'ter-kloth), n. Naut., one 
of a series of long pieces of painted canvas for- 
merly extended on the outside of the quarter- 
netting from the upper part of the gallery to the 
gangway. 
quarter-day (kwar'ter-da), n. In England, the 
day that begins each quarter of the year. They 
are Lady day (March 25th), Midsummer day (June 24th), 
Michaelmas day (September 29th), and Christmas day (De- 
cember 25th). These are the usual landlords' and tenants' 
terms for entering or quitting lands or houses and for 
paying rent. In Scotland the legal terms are Whitsunday 
(May 15th) and Martinmas (November llth) ; the conven- 
tional terms Candlemas (February 2d) and Lammas (Au- 
gust 1st) make up the quarter-days. 
quarter-deck (kwar'ter-dek), . Naut., the 
part of the spar-deck of a man-of-war between 
the poop and the main-mast. It is used as a 
promenade by the officers only. 
The officer was walking the quarterdeck, where I had no 
right to go. S. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 6. 
quarter-decker (kwar'ter-dek"er), n. Naut., 
an officer who is more looked upon as a stickler 
for small points of etiquette than as a thorough 
seaman. [Colloq.] 
quartered (kwar'terd), p. a. 1. Divided into 
or grouped in four equal parts or quarters; 
separated into distinct parts. 
Nations besides from all the quarter'd winds. 
Milton, P. R., iv. 202. 
2. Lodged; stationed for lodging; of or per- 
taining to lodging or quarters. 
When they hear the Roman horses neigh. 
Behold their quarter'd fires. Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 4. 18. 
