quartering

Etymology

verb

1. present participle and gerund of quarter

noun

1. A division into four parts.
   Similitude applies to proportional changes, such as doublings, halvings, or quarterings; it does not apply to additive changes. 1994, David C. Schneider, Quantitative Ecology: Spatial and Temporal Scaling, page 36
2. The act of providing housing for military personnel, especially when imposed upon the home of a private citizen.
3. The method of capital punishment where a criminal is cut into four pieces.
4. (heraldry) The division of a shield containing different coats of arms into four or more compartments.
5. (heraldry) One of the different coats of arms arranged upon an escutcheon, denoting the descent of the bearer.
6. (architecture) A series of quarters, or small upright posts.
7. (historical) The practice of docking 15 minutes' pay from a worker who arrived late (even by less than 15 minutes).
8. (hunting) Searching for prey by traversing a space. From hunting for game, where dogs will run parallel to the wind in search of a scent, thereby 'quatering' the field.
9. A point on an arch calculated by measuring one quarter of the height along a line from the peak to the outer edge on the ground.
   The arch failed first at the crown, then at the quarterings, and finally at the springings. 1941 February, “Bridge demolition by lifting”, in Railway Magazine, page 74

adj

1. (nautical) Coming from a point well abaft the beam, but not directly astern; said of waves or any moving object.
   Wave direction and frequency (period) are two factors that influence the effect of waves on a moored ship. Whether the ship responds by surging, swaying or yawing will depend on whether the waves are striking the moored vessel head-on, beam-on or quartering, the frequency of the waves and the manner in which the tanker is moored. 2015 November, Duncan Bruce, Tanker Jetty Safety – Management of the Ship/Shore Interface, 1st edition, Witherby Seamanship International, 3.1.2
2. (by extension, aviation, of wind) Coming from aft and to one side; having both a crosswind and tailwind component.
3. (engineering) At right angles, as the cranks of a locomotive, which are in planes forming a right angle with each other.