quarter

[[t]kwɔ͟ː(r)tə(r)[/t]]

♦♦

quarters, quartering, quartered

1) FRACTION A quarter is one of four equal parts of something.

A quarter of the residents are over 55 years old...

I've got to go and collect my son in about a quarter of an hour...

Prices have fallen by a quarter since January...

Cut the peppers into quarters.

PREDET

Quarter is also a predeterminer.

The largest asteroid is Ceres, which is about a quarter the size of the moon.

ADJ: ADJ n

Quarter is also an adjective.

...the past quarter century... He closed his door and started the quarter-mile walk down the hill.

2) N-COUNT: usu sing A quarter is a fixed period of three months. Companies often divide their financial year into four quarters.

The group said results for the third quarter are due on October 29.

3) N-UNCOUNT: also a N When you are telling the time, you use quarter to talk about the fifteen minutes before or after an hour. For example, 8.15 is quarter past eight, and 8.45 is quarter to nine. In American English, you can also say that 8.15 is a quarter after eight and 8.45 is a quarter of nine.

It was a quarter to six...

See you about quarter to nine...

I got a call at quarter of seven one night...

Nobody else turned up till a quarter past ten...

The time was recorded at a quarter after five.

4) VERB If you quarter something such as a fruit or a vegetable, you cut it into four roughly equal parts.

[V n] Chop the mushrooms and quarter the tomatoes.

5) VERB: usu passive If the number or size of something is quartered, it is reduced to about a quarter of its previous number or size.

[be V-ed] The doses I suggested for adults could be halved or quartered.

6) N-COUNT A quarter is an American or Canadian coin that is worth 25 cents.

I dropped a quarter into the slot of the pay phone.

7) N-COUNT: supp N A particular quarter of a town is a part of the town where a particular group of people traditionally live or work.

We wandered through the Chinese quarter.

8) N-COUNT: usu supp N To refer to a person or group you may not want to name, you can talk about the reactions or actions from a particular quarter.

Help came from an unexpected quarter...

There are fears in some quarters that the republic would have little chance of surviving on its own.

9) N-PLURAL: poss N The rooms provided for soldiers, sailors, or servants to live in are called their quarters.

Mckinnon went down from deck to the officers' quarters.

10) VERB: usu passive If people are quartered somewhere, they are provided with accommodation for a short time, usually while they are working away from home.

[be V-ed prep/adv] Our soldiers are quartered in Peredelkino.

11) PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR If you do something at close quarters, you do it very near to a particular person or thing.

You can watch aircraft take off or land at close quarters.

12) PHRASE: PHR with v If you say that someone was given no quarter, you mean that they were not treated kindly by someone who had power or control over them.

This is not war as you learned it. It is brutal work, with no quarter given.