quarter plate

a photographic plate measuring 3.25 inches by 4.25 inches ;

quarter pound

4 ounces ;

quarter rest

a musical rest having one-fourth the time value of a whole rest ;

quarter round

a convex molding having a cross section in the form of a quarter of a circle or of an ellipse ;

quarter section

a land unit equal to a quarter of a section (160 acres) and measuring 1/2 mile on a side ;

quarter sessions

a local court with criminal jurisdiction and sometimes administrative functions ;

quarter stock

stock with a par value of $25/share ;

quarter tone

half of a semitone ;

quarterback

the position of the football player in the backfield who directs the offensive play of his team; "quarterback is the most important position on the team" ; (football) the person who plays quarterback ;

quarterdeck

the stern area of a ship's upper deck ;

quarterfinal

one of the four competitions in an elimination tournament whose winners go on to play in the semifinals ;

quartering

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

quarterlight

car window consisting of a small pivoted glass vent in the door of a car ;

quarterly

a periodical that is published every quarter (or four issues per year) ;

quartermaster

an army officer who provides clothing and subsistence for troops ;

quartermaster general

a staff officer in charge of supplies for a whole army ;

quartern

one of four equal parts; "a quarter of a pound" ;

quarters

housing available for people to live in; "he found quarters for his family"; "I visited his bachelor quarters" ;

quarterstaff

a long stout staff used as a weapon ;

quartervine

woody flowering vine of southern United States; stems show a cross in transverse section ;

quartet

a musical composition for four performers ; four people considered as a unit; "he joined a barbershop quartet"; "the foursome teed off before 9 a.m." ; a set of four similar things considered as a unit ; four performers or singers who perform together ; the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one ;

quartette

a musical composition for four performers ; four people considered as a unit; "he joined a barbershop quartet"; "the foursome teed off before 9 a.m." ; a set of four similar things considered as a unit ; four performers or singers who perform together ;

quartic

an algebraic equation of the fourth degree ;

quartic polynomial

a polynomial of the fourth degree ;

quartile

(statistics) any of three points that divide an ordered distribution into four parts each containing one quarter of the scores ;

quarto

the size of a book whose pages are made by folding a sheet of paper twice to form four leaves ;

quartz

a hard glossy mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in crystal form; present in most rocks (especially sandstone and granite); yellow sand is quartz with iron oxide impurities ; colorless glass made of almost pure silica ;

quartz battery

a stamp mill for stamping quartz ;

quartz crystal

a thin plate or small rod of quartz cut along certain lines and ground so that it can produce an electric signal at a constant frequency; used in crystal oscillators ;

quartz glass

colorless glass made of almost pure silica ;

quartz lamp

a mercury-vapor lamp that is enclosed in a quartz container instead of a glass container ;

quartz mill

a stamp mill for stamping quartz ;

quartz oscillator

an oscillator that produces electrical oscillations at a frequency determined by the physical characteristics of a piezoelectric quartz crystal ;

quartzite

hard metamorphic rock consisting essentially of interlocking quartz crystals ;

quasar

a starlike object that may send out radio waves and other forms of energy; many have large red shifts ;

quasi-ngo

a quasi nongovernmental organization; an organization that is financed by the government yet acts independently of the government ;

quasi-stellar radio source

a starlike object that may send out radio waves and other forms of energy; many have large red shifts ;

quasi contract

a contract created by law for reasons of justice without any expression of assent ;

quasiparticle

a quantum of energy (in a crystal lattice or other system) that has position and momentum and can in some respects be regarded as a particle ;

quassia

handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood; yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark ; a bitter compound used as an insecticide and tonic and vermifuge; extracted from the wood and bark of trees of the genera Quassia and Picrasma ;