(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is one of four equal parts of something.
A ~ of the residents are over 55 years old...
I’ve got to go in a ~ of an hour...
Prices have fallen by a ~ since January...
Cut the peppers into ~s.
FRACTION
•
Quarter is also a predeterminer.
The largest asteroid is Ceres, which is about a ~ the size of the moon.
PREDET
•
Quarter is also an adjective.
...the past ~ century...
ADJ: ADJ n
2.
A ~ is a fixed period of three months. Companies often divide their financial year into four ~s.
The group said results for the third ~ are due on October 29.
N-COUNT: usu sing
3.
When you are telling the time, you use ~ to talk about the fifteen minutes before or after an hour. For example, 8.15 is ~ past eight, and 8.45 is ~ to nine. In American English, you can also say that 8.15 is a ~ after eight and 8.45 is a ~ of nine.
It was a ~ to six...
I got a call at ~ of seven one night...
N-UNCOUNT: also a N
4.
If you ~ something such as a fruit or a vegetable, you cut it into four roughly equal parts.
Chop the mushrooms and ~ the tomatoes.
VERB: V n
5.
If the number or size of something is ~ed, it is reduced to about a ~ of its previous number or size.
The doses I suggested for adults could be halved or ~ed.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed
6.
A ~ is an American or Canadian coin that is worth 25 cents.
I dropped a ~ into the slot of the pay phone.
N-COUNT
7.
A particular ~ of a town is a part of the town where a particular group of people traditionally live or work.
Look for hotels in the French Quarter.
N-COUNT: supp N
8.
To refer to a person or group you may not want to name, you can talk about the reactions or actions from a particular ~.
Help came from an unexpected ~...
N-COUNT: usu supp N
9.
The rooms provided for soldiers, sailors, or servants to live in are called their ~s.
Mckinnon went down from deck to the officers’ ~s.
N-PLURAL: poss N
10.
If you do something at close ~s, you do it very near to a particular person or thing.
You can watch aircraft take off or land at close ~s...
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR