quarter (quarters plural & 3rd person present) (quartering present participle) (quartered past tense & past participle )
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 in a quarter of an hour..., Prices have fallen by a quarter since January..., Cut the peppers into quarters.
Quarter is also a predeterminer., predet
The largest asteroid is Ceres, which is about a quarter the size of the moon.
Quarter is also an adjective., adj ADJ n
...the past quarter century...
2 n-count A quarter is a fixed period of three months. Companies often divide their financial year into four quarters.
usu sing
The group said results for the third quarter are due on October 29.
3 n-uncount 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.
also a N
It was a quarter to six..., I got a call at quarter of seven one night...
4 verb If you quarter something such as a fruit or a vegetable, you cut it into four roughly equal parts.
Chop the mushrooms and quarter the tomatoes. V n
5 verb If the number or size of something is quartered, it is reduced to about a quarter of its previous number or size.
usu passive
The doses I suggested for adults could be halved or quartered. be V-ed
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 A particular quarter of a town is a part of the town where a particular group of people traditionally live or work.
supp N
Look for hotels in the French Quarter.
8 n-count 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.
usu supp N
Help came from an unexpected quarter...
9 n-plural The rooms provided for soldiers, sailors, or servants to live in are called their quarters.
poss N
Mckinnon went down from deck to the officers' quarters.
10 If you do something at close quarters, you do it very near to a particular person or thing.
at close quarters phrase PHR after v, v-link PHR You can watch aircraft take off or land at close quarters...
quarter-final (quarter-finals plural )
in AM, use quarterfinal A quarter-final is one of the four matches in a competition which decides which four players or teams will compete in the semi-final. n-count
The very least I'm looking for at Wimbledon is to reach the quarter-finals.
quarter-finalist (quarter-finalists plural )A quarter-finalist is a person or team that is competing in a quarter-final. n-count
quarter note (quarter notes plural )A quarter note is a musical note that has a time value equal to two eighth notes.
(AM) n-count
in BRIT, use crotchet
quarter pounder (quarter pounders plural )A quarter pounder is a hamburger that weighs four ounces before it is cooked. Four ounces is a quarter of a pound. n-count
three-quarter , three quarter
You can use three-quarter to describe something which is three fourths of the usual size or three fourths of a standard measurement. adj ADJ n
Choose short or three-quarter sleeves for summer., ...a session which lasted one and three-quarter hours.