quarter

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
quarter/ˈkwɔːtə(r)/

▶noun

• 1 each of four equal or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided.

• 2 a period of three months, used especially in reference to financial transactions.

  ■ chiefly US each of four terms into which a school or university year may be divided.

• 3 a quarter-hour.

• 4 (quarters) the haunches or hindquarters of a horse.

• 5 a US or Canadian coin worth 25 cents.

• 6 one fourth of a pound weight (avoirdupois, equal to 4 ounces).

  ■ one fourth of a hundredweight (Brit. 28 lb or US 25 lb).

  ■ Brit. a grain measure equivalent to 8 bushels.

• 7 a part of a town or city with a specific character or use.

• 8 the direction of one of the points of the compass.

• 9 either side of a ship aft of the beam.

• 10 a person, group, area, etc. regarded as the source of something: help from an unexpected quarter.

• 11 (quarters) rooms or lodgings.

• 12 (in combat) pity or mercy.

• 13 Heraldry each of four or more roughly equal divisions of a shield.

  ■ a square charge covering the top left quarter of the field.

▶verb

• 1 divide into quarters.

  ■ historical cut the body of (an executed person) into four parts.

• 2 (be quartered) be stationed or lodged.

• 3 range over (an area) in all directions.

• 4 Heraldry display (different coats of arms) in quarters of a shield.

– origin ME: from OFr. quartier, from L. quartarius ‘fourth part of a measure’, from quartus ‘fourth’, from quattuor ‘four’.