different between quarter vs safety

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k(w)??t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k(w)??.t?/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?ko?.t?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English quarter, from Anglo-Norman quarter, from Latin quartarius, from quartus. Compare Spanish cuarto (“room, quarters; quarter”). Doublet of quartier.

Noun

quarter (countable and uncountable, plural quarters)

1. A fourth part of something.
   1. (in general sense) Each of four equal parts into which something can be divided; a fourth part. [from 14th c.]

      A quarter of an hour.

   2. (now chiefly historical) A measure of capacity used chiefly for grain or coal, varying greatly in quantity by time and location. [from 13th c.]
   3. A fourth part of a pound; approximately 113 grams. [from 14th c.]
   4. (historical) A measure of length; originally a fourth part of an ell, now chiefly a fourth part of a yard. [from 14th c.]
   5. (now historical) A fourth part of the night; one of the watches or divisions of the night. [from 14th c.]
      • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark 6:48

        And aboute the fourth quartre of the nyght, he cam unto them, walkinge apon the see [...].

   6. (now chiefly financial) A fourth part of the year; 3 months; a term or season. [from 14th c.]
   7. A fourth part of an hour; a period of fifteen minutes, especially with reference to the quarter before or after the hour. [from 15th c.]
   8. (now chiefly historical) A fourth part of a hundredweight. [from 15th c.]
   9. (heraldry) A fourth part of a coat of arms, or the charge on it, larger than a canton and normally on the upper dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side. [from 15th c.]
   10. (Canada, US) A quarter-dollar, divided into 25 cents; the coin of that value minted in the United States or Canada. [from 18th c.]
   11. (sports) One of four equal periods into which a game is divided. [from 19th c.]
   12. (Chester, historical) A quarter of an acre or 40 roods.
2. Place or position.
   1. A region or place. [from 13th c.]
      • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

        I am to haste, / And all who under me thir Banners wave, / Homeward with flying march where we possess / The Quarters of the North […] .

   2. Each of four parts into which the earth or sky is divided, corresponding to the four cardinal points of the compass. [from 14th c.]
   3. A division or section of a town or city, especially having a particular character of its own, or associated with a particular group etc. [from 16th c.]
   4. One's residence or dwelling-place; (in plural) rooms, lodgings, especially as allocated to soldiers or domestic staff. [from 16th c.]
   5. (obsolete) Relations between people. [17th c.]
      • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Cunning

        I knew two that were competitors for the secretary's place, […] and yet kept good quarter between themselves.

   6. Accommodation given to a defeated opponent; mercy; exemption from being killed. [from 17th c.]
3. Technical or specialized senses.
   1. (farriery) The part on either side of a horse's hoof between the toe and heel, the side of its coffin. [from 16th c.]
   2. (nautical) The aftmost part of a vessel's side, roughly from the last mast to the stern. [from 16th c.]
      • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 80:

        I was one morning walking the deck, when Rogers, whose watch it was, sitting upon the quarter, called to me in his usual style, ‘Come here, Bill.’
4. Short forms.
   1. (now rare, rugby, American football) A quarterback. [from 19th c.]
   2. (military slang, now rare) A quartermaster; a quartermaster sergeant. [from 20th c.]
   3. A quarterfinal. [from 20th c.]

Synonyms

• (one of four equal parts): fourth, fourth part, ¼
• (period of three consecutive months): trimester, cour
• (section of a town): district; ward; neighborhood; ghetto (pejorative); borough (New York City); capitoulate (Toulouse, historical)

Derived terms

Related terms

• quart

Translations

References

Adjective

quarter (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to an aspect of a quarter.
2. (chiefly) Consisting of a fourth part, a quarter (¹?₄, 25%).

3. (chiefly) Related to a three-month term, a quarter of a year.

Antonyms

• quadruple

Usage notes

Often used in a combining form quarter-.

Derived terms

Verb

quarter (third-person singular simple present quarters, present participle quartering, simple past and past participle quartered)

1. (transitive) To divide into quarters; to divide by four.
2. (transitive) To provide housing for military personnel or other equipment.

3. (intransitive) To lodge; to have a temporary residence.
4. (transitive) To quartersaw.

Synonyms

• (to have a temporary residence): stay over, stop; See also Thesaurus:sojourn

Antonyms

• quadruple (multiply by four)

Translations

See also

• draw and quarter

References

Adjective

• "quarter" at Merriam-Webster
• "quarter" in Harrap's Shorter, 2006, p. 761

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French cartayer.

Verb

quarter (third-person singular simple present quarters, present participle quartering, simple past and past participle quartered)

1. (obsolete) To drive a carriage so as to prevent the wheels from going into the ruts, or so that a rut shall be between the wheels.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin quartus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /kw???te/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kw?r?te/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /kwa??te?/

Noun

quarter m (plural quarters)

1. fourth
2. quarter

Synonyms

• quart

Derived terms

• esquarterar

Further reading

• “quarter” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “quarter” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “quarter” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “quarter” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwa?.t??/

Noun

quarter m (plural quarters)

1. quarter (old measure of corn)

Further reading

• “quarter” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• traquer

Middle English

Alternative forms

• quartre, quartier, wharter, quatere, quatter

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman quarter.

Noun

quarter (plural quarters)

1. quarter

Descendants

• English: quarter
• Yola: curthere, cortere

References

• “quart???r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Alternative forms

• quartier (chiefly mainland Europe)

Noun

quarter m (oblique plural quarters, nominative singular quarters, nominative plural quarter)

1. (chiefly Anglo-Norman) quarter (one fourth)

References

• quarter on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (quartier, supplement)

English

Etymology

From Old French sauveté, from earlier salvetet, from Medieval Latin salvitas, salvitatem, from Latin salvus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?se?fti/

Noun

safety (countable and uncountable, plural safeties)

1. The condition or feeling of being safe; security; certainty.

   If you push it to the limit, safety is not guaranteed.
2. (mechanics) A mechanism on a weapon or dangerous equipment designed to prevent accidental firing.

   Be sure that the safety is set before proceeding.

3. (American football) An instance of a player being sacked or tackled in the end zone, or stepping out of the end zone and off the field, resulting in two points to the opposite team.

   He sacked the quarterback in the end zone for a safety.

4. (American football) Any of the defensive players who are in position furthest from the line of scrimmage and whose responsibility is to defend against passes as well as to be the tacklers of last resort.

   The free safety made a game-saving tackle on the runner who had broken past the linebackers.

5. (baseball) A safety squeeze.
   • 1952, Bernard Malamud, The Natural, Time Life Books, 1966, p. 225,^[1]

     Boy wondered about that bunt. He had a notion Fowler would commit himself soon because time was on the go. But Fowler didn’t, making it another sweep of three Pirates. He had thus far given up only two safeties.

6. Preservation from escape; close custody.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act IV, Scene 2^[2]

     […] imprison him, […] / Deliver him to safety; and return,

7. (dated) A safety bicycle.
   • 1897, American Architect and Architecture (volumes 57-58, page 51)

     Many wheelmen and wheelwomen, riding safeties, tandems and tricycles, stopped there during the evening and we had good opportunity for comparing American and English bicycles […]

Antonyms

• danger

Derived terms

Related terms

• safe

Translations

See also

• security
• secure

Verb

safety (third-person singular simple present safeties, present participle safetying, simple past and past participle safetied)

1. (transitive) To secure (a mechanical component, as in aviation) to keep it from becoming detached even under vibration.
2. to secure a firing pin, as in guns, to keep the gun from firing
   • 2011 Time Crime, page 92

     Time went back to normal for him; he safetied his own weapon and dropped it, jumping forward.

   • 2012 Blowout, page 343

     Osborne lay propped up on one elbow, his pistol cocked, his aim wavering in the general direction the man had gone. Finally he safetied it, stuffed it in the holster on his right hip, and reached for his cell phone in his jacket pocket. But it was gone.