quart
A unit of liquid capacity equal to two pints; one-fourth (quarter) of a gallon. Equivalent to 1.136 liters in the UK and 0.946 liter (liquid quart) or 1.101 liters (dry quart) in the U.S.
Adjective dialectal
- Transverse.
- Contentious or quarrelsome.
Origin
Dialectal alteration of thwart.
Forms
Adjective dialectal, obsolete
- Safe, sound; healthy.
Origin
From Middle English quarte, querte, from Old Norse kyrt, *kvirt, neuter of Old Norse kyrr, kvirr (“quiet, still, peaceful”), from Proto-Germanic *kwerruz (“calm, satisfied, pacified”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₂- (“heavy”). Cognate with Scots quert, quart (“alive, in good health, sound”), Scots querty (“vivacious, active, in good spirits”), Danish kvær (“quiet”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvar, kvær, kverr (“still, quiet”), Icelandic kyrr (“still, calm, unmoving”).
Forms
Adverb
- Crosswise; across.
Forms
Noun Entry 4
- A unit of liquid capacity equal to two pints; one-fourth (quarter) of a gallon. Equivalent to 1.136 liters in the UK and 0.946 liter (liquid quart) or 1.101 liters (dry quart) in the U.S.
- Four successive cards of the same suit.
- A tierce major is good against any other tierce; a quart minor is good against a tierce major. - 1908, Cavendish, The laws of piquet adopted:
- Carrados ought to have won the point and divided tricks, leaving his opponent a minor quart and a solitary trio—about 15 on the hand. By a careless discard he threw away both chances and the final score stood at...
- A fourth; a quarter; hence, a region of the earth.
- Camber did possesse the Westerne quart. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14:
- The fourth defensive position; quarte.
- [W]e behold two men with lion-look, with alert attitude, side foremost, right foot advanced; flourishing and thrusting, stoccado and passado, in tierce and quart; intent to skewer one another. - 1837, Thomas Carlyle,...
Origin
From Middle English quart, quarte, from Old French quarte, carte, from Latin quartus (“one-fourth”). Cognate with Spanish cuarto (“quarter; room, quarters”).
Forms
Derived
Noun obsolete, uncountable
- Safety, soundness; health.
- Now if ye felt your belly in ſuche caſe, that ye muſt be fayne al daye to tende it with warme clothes, oꝛ els ye were not able to abide the payne, would ye recken your belly ſicke oꝛ whole? I wene ye would recken your...
Verb
- To thwart.
Forms
Related
quart-pot quatre quart quatre-quart Winchester quart you can't get a quart into a pint pot