quartering

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of dividing into fourths.
2. n. The act of assigning quarters, as for soldiers.
3. n. Quarters; lodging; a station.
4. n. In heraldry, the marshaling or disposal of various escutcheons in one, in order to denote the several alliances of one family with the heiresses of others. When more than three other escutcheons are quartered with that of the family, the arms are still said to be quartered, however many compartments the shield may be divided into. The name is also given to the several different coats marshaled and placed together in one escutcheon. See quarterly.
5. n. In carpentry, a series of small vertical timber posts, rarely exceeding 4 by 3 inches, used to form a partition for the separation or boundary of apartments. They are usually placed about twelve inches apart, and are lathed and plastered in interiors, but if used for exteriors they are generally boarded. Gwilt.
6. n. In gunnery, the position or placing of a piece of ordnance when it is so traversed that it will shoot on the same line, or on the same point of the compass, as that on which the ship's quarter has its bearing.
7. n. In mech., the adjustment of cranks on a single shaft at an angle of 90° with each other; also, the boring of holes for wrist-pins in locomotive driving-wheels at right angles with each other.
8. Nautical: Sailing large but not before the wind.
9. Being on the quarter, or between the line of the keel and the beam, abaft the latter: as, a quartering wind.
10. In archery, making an acute angle with the range: said of the wind.
11. n. The change of the moon from one quarter to the next.

Wiktionary

1. v. present participle of quarter.
2. n. The act of providing housing for military personnel, especially when imposed upon the home of a private citizen.
3. n. The method of capital punishment where a criminal is cut into four pieces.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Coming from a point well abaft the beam, but not directly astern; -- said of waves or any moving object.
2. adj. At right angles, as the cranks of a locomotive, which are in planes forming a right angle with each other.
3. n. A station.
4. n. Assignment of quarters for soldiers; quarters.
5. n. The division of a shield containing different coats of arms into four or more compartments.
6. n. One of the different coats of arms arranged upon an escutcheon, denoting the descent of the bearer.
7. n. A series of quarters, or small upright posts. See Quarter, n., 1 (m) (Arch.)

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a coat of arms that occupies one quarter of an escutcheon; combining four coats of arms on one shield usually represented intermarriages
2. n. living accommodations (especially those assigned to military personnel)
3. n. dividing into four equal parts