Quad"rat (?), n. [F. quadrat, cadrat. See Quadrate.] 1. (Print.) A
block of type metal lower than the letters, -- used in spacing and in
blank lines. [Abbrev. quad.]
2. An old instrument used for taking altitudes; -- called also
geometrical square, and line of shadows.
Quad"rate (?), a. [L. quadratus squared, p. p. of quadrare to make
four-cornered, to make square, to square, to fit, suit, from quadrus
square, quattuor four. See Quadrant, and cf. Quadrat, Quarry an arrow,
Square.] 1. Having four equal sides, the opposite sides parallel, and
four right angles; square.
Figures, some round, some triangle, some quadrate.
Foxe.
2. Produced by multiplying a number by itself; square. " Quadrate and
cubical numbers." Sir T. Browne.
3. Square; even; balanced; equal; exact. [Archaic] " A quadrate, solid,
wise man." Howell.
4. Squared; suited; correspondent. [Archaic] " A generical description
quadrate to both." Harvey.
Quadrate bone (Anat.), a bone between the base of the lower jaw and the
skull in most vertebrates below the mammals. In reptiles and birds it
articulates the lower jaw with the skull; in mammals it is represented
by the malleus or incus.
Quad"rate (?), n. [L. quadratum. See Quadrate, a.] 1. (Geom.) A plane
surface with four equal sides and four right angles; a square; hence,
figuratively, anything having the outline of a square.
At which command, the powers militant That stood for heaven, in
mighty quadrate joined.
Milton.
2. (Astrol.) An aspect of the heavenly bodies in which they are distant
from each other 90∞, or the quarter of a circle; quartile. See the Note
under Aspect, 6.