Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous elements.
Milton.
Hence, specifically: (a) (Naut.) A station at which officers and men
are posted in battle; -- usually in the plural. (b) Place of lodging or
temporary residence; shelter; entertainment; -- usually in the plural.
The banter turned as to what quarters each would find.
W. Irving.
(c) pl. (Mil.) A station or encampment occupied by troops; a place of
lodging for soldiers or officers; as, winter quarters. (d) Treatment
shown by an enemy; mercy; especially, the act of sparing the life a
conquered enemy; a refraining from pushing one's advantage to extremes.
He magnified his own clemency, now they were at his mercy, to offer
them quarter for their lives.
Clarendon.
Cocks and lambs . . . at the mercy of cats and wolves . . . must
never expect better quarter.
L'Estrange.
3. Friendship; amity; concord. [Obs.] To keep quarter, to keep one's
proper place, and so be on good terms with another. [Obs.]
In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom.
Shak.
I knew two that were competitors for the secretary's place, . . .
and yet kept good quarter between themselves.
Bacon.
False quarter, a cleft in the quarter of a horse's foot. -- Fifth
quarter, the hide and fat; -- a butcher's term. -- On the quarter
(Naut.), in a direction between abeam and astern; opposite, or nearly
opposite, a vessel's quarter. -- Quarter aspect. (Astrol.) Same as
Quadrate. - - Quarter back (Football), the player who has position next
behind center rush, and receives the ball on the snap back. -- Quarter
badge (Naut.), an ornament on the side of a vessel near, the stern.
Mar. Dict. -- Quarter bill (Naut.), a list specifying the different
stations to be taken by the officers and crew in time of action, and
the names of the men assigned to each. -- Quarter block (Naut.), a
block fitted under the quarters of a yard on each side of the slings,
through which the clew lines and sheets are reeved. R. H. Dana, Jr. --
Quarter boat (Naut.), a boat hung at a vessel's quarter. -- Quarter
cloths (Naut.), long pieces of painted canvas, used to cover the
quarter netting. -- Quarter day, a day regarded as terminating a
quarter of the year; hence, one on which any payment, especially rent,
becomes due. In matters influenced by United States statutes, quarter
days are the first days of January, April, July, and October. In New
York and many other places, as between landlord and tenant, they are
the first days of May, August, November, and February. The quarter days
usually recognized in England are 25th of March (Lady Day), the 24th of
June (Midsummer Day), the 29th of September (Michaelmas Day), and the
25th of December (Christmas Day). -- Quarter face, in fine arts,
portrait painting, etc., a face turned away so that but one quarter is
visible. -- Quarter gallery (Naut.), a balcony on the quarter of a
ship. See Gallery, 4. -- Quarter gunner (Naut.), a petty officer who
assists the gunner. -- Quarter look, a side glance. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
-- Quarter nettings (Naut.), hammock nettings along the quarter rails.
-- Quarter note (Mus.), a note equal in duration to half a minim or a
fourth of semibreve; a crochet. -- Quarter pieces (Naut.), several
pieces of timber at the after-part of the quarter gallery, near the
taffrail. Totten. -- Quarter point. (Naut.) See Quarter, n., 1 (n). --
Quarter railing, or Quarter rails (Naut.), narrow molded planks
reaching from the top of the stern to the gangway, serving as a fence
to the quarter-deck. -- Quarter sessions (Eng. Law), a general court of
criminal jurisdiction held quarterly by the justices of peace in
counties and by the recorders in boroughs. -- Quarter square (Math.),
the fourth part of the square of a number. Tables of quarter squares
have been devised to save labor in multiplying numbers. -- Quarter
turn, Quarter turn belt (Mach.), an arrangement in which a belt
transmits motion between two shafts which are at right angles with each
other. -- Quarter watch (Naut.), a subdivision of the full watch (one
fourth of the crew) on a man-of- war. -- To give, or show, quarter
(Mil.), to accept as prisoner, on submission in battle; to forbear to
kill, as a vanquished enemy. -- To keep quarter. See Quarter, n., 3.
Quar"ter (kw‰r"tr), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quartered (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Quartering.] 1. To divide into four equal parts.
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