quartering

Verb

• Present participle of quarter

Noun

• A division into four parts.
• The act of providing housing for military personnel, especially when imposed upon the home of a private citizen.
• The method of capital punishment where a criminal is cut into four pieces.
• The division of a shield containing different coats of arms into four or more compartments.
• One of the different coats of arms arranged upon an escutcheon, denoting the descent of the bearer.
• A series of quarters, or small upright posts.
• The practice of docking 15 minutes' pay from a worker who arrived late (even by less than 15 minutes).
• 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.
• Part of an arch.

Adjective

• Coming from a point well abaft the beam, but not directly astern; said of waves or any moving object.
• Coming from aft and to one side; having both a crosswind and tailwind component.
• At right angles, as the cranks of a locomotive, which are in planes forming a right angle with each other.