▪ I. † quart, quert, a. and n.1 Obs.
Forms: 4–5 quarte, quert(e, qwert(e, 5 qwarte, -tt, whert, whart(e, 4–6 quart.
[app. a. ON. *kwert, neut. of *kwer-r (of which the recorded forms are Icel. kyrr, ONorw. kvirr, Da. qvær, Sw. qvar) quiet, still = MHG. kürre (G. kirre), Goth. qairrus gentle, mild. For the retention of the neuter ending cf. thwart. In Engl. the word is chiefly poetic.]
A. adj. Healthy; in good condition; whole and sound.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26119 (Cott.) Opins to your lauerd your hert, And riues it, to mak it quert. 13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 771 The cradel turnd up so doun..The stapeles hit upheld al quert. a 1400 Stockh. Med. MS. i. 146 in Anglia XVIII. 298 Þis drinke xal..makyn hym hwngry for to ete As a qwert man al maner mete. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1061 Be thou riche or poor, or sike or quert. c 1450 Life St. Cuthb. 4215 On one his eye was hale and whart. 1556 Abp. Parker Ps. lxxiii. 203 Their paunches ful: their helth so quart. |
B. n. Health; healthy or sound condition; the state of being alive and well. Chiefly in phr. in quart (freq. in 14–15th c.).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1803 Þof þat noe was in quert, He was noght al at es in hert. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9990 Ouer al was wo, & no whar quert. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6941 [Þai] fayn were..þat þai had hym at hond & in holl qwert. c 1450 Life St. Cuthbert 3958 Bischop Edbart Wex full seke and oute of whart. 1522 More De quat. Nouiss. Wks. 80/1 Ye would recken your belly not in good quart. 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 149 It preserveth it in good health and in good quart. |
b. That which gives health or soundness. rare.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 21354 Þe rode..Gains al ur care it es ur quert. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 1488 My leman swete,..My joy, my comforth, and my quert. |
▪ II. quart, n.2
(kwɔːt)
Forms: 5 qwh-, qvarte, 5–7 quarte, (7 dial. whart), 4– quart.
[a. F. quarte fem. (13th c. in sense 1) and quart masc. (= It. quarta, quarto, Sp. cuarta, cuarto), repr. L. quarta, -tum, fem. and neut. of quartus fourth.]
1. a. An English measure of capacity, one-fourth of a gallon, or two pints.
| c 1325 Poem times Edw. II, xxix, He wil drawe at a drawȝt A gode quart other more Of gode ale. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 311 This Carpenter..broghte of myghty Ale a large quart. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 26 Of hony a qwharte thou take. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xl. 27 They drank twa quartis, sowp and sowp. 1555 Eden Decades 197 They take for euery man two or three quartes of water. 1579 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 401 An ale quarte for a penye. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. I. 506 Your wines shalbe sold by hogs heads, pipes or buttes, but not by quartes nor pintes. 1709 Prior Yng. Gentlm. in Love 58 He..drank a Quart of Milk and Tea. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 782 Four ounces of Brazil-wood..in a quart of water. 1896 Sir M. Hicks Beach in Daily News 23 July 4/3 What he might describe in homely phrase as putting a quart into a pint pot. |
| fig. 1797 Colman Heir at Law iii. ii, He can ladle you out Latin by the quart. |
b. A vessel holding a quart; a quart-pot or quart-bottle.
| c 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 712 False measures, busshelles, galones,..quartes. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 95 Mony fowll drunckart, With can and collep, cop and quart. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 1373 To fill the Quart I sall rin to the toun. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Ind. ii. 89 Because she brought stone-Iugs, and no seal'd quarts. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 294, 3 Quarts, their lids open,..born by Quaffer. c 1800 [see gill n.3 2]. 1885 H. Finch-Hatton Advance Austral. 111 A tin quart of water is set down by the fire. |
c. attrib., as quart-ale, quart bass, quart bottle, quart flagon, quart-measure, quart retort (see quot.). See also quart-pot.
| 1454 Paston Lett. No. 219 I. 307 To sende hom wyn and ij. quart botelys. 1611 Florio, Quarta,..a quart measure. c 1650 R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. iv. (1818) 167 Thence to Lonesdale, where were at it Boyes that scorned quart-ale by statute. 1764 Colman Prose Sev. Occas. (1787) II. 51 To see a man get into a Quart Bottle. 1767 Woulfe in Phil. Trans. LVII. 521 note, What goes by the name of a quart retort holds better than two gallons of water. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xvi, He filled a quart flagon. |
† 2. a. [F. quart m.] A quarter of something. Obs.
| 1454 Paston Lett. No. 201 I. 278 Be the space of on qaurte [quarte] of an houre. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 9 Take a quarte of an unce. |
b. A quarter of a pound. Obs. rare—1.
| 1496 Fysshynge w. angle (1883) 10 Take..a lytyll iuce of walnot leuys and a quarte of alym. |
c. ‘Prob., the fourth part of the great tithes’ (Jam.). Obs. rare—1.
| 1630 Gordon Hist. Earls Sutherld. (1813) 32 Ther peculiar landward (or rurall) churches, together with the particular tithes, crofts, manses, gleibs, and quartes, ar severallie appoynted to everie one of the dignites and channons. |
† 3. a. A quarter of the horizon. b. A quarter, region. Obs. rare.
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 154 Betwixt either of these quartes, two other windes brost out. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 14 Albanact had all the Northerne part..And Camber did possesse the Westerne quart. |
† 4. [ad. Sp. cuarto.] A Spanish copper coin, worth four maravedis. Obs.
| 1631 Celestina iv. 52, I never wanted..a Quarte, that is the eighth part of sixepence to send for wine. 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. xxviii, An officer of the customs, demanded a toll, each horse paying three quarts. |
5. Mus. The interval of a fourth. rare.
| 1890 Academy 18 Jan. 51 A succession of parallel quarts, quints, and octaves,..intolerable to modern ears. |
| attrib. 1976 D. Munrow Instruments of Middle Ages & Renaissance 44/3 Praetorius gives the following sizes of curtals: 1. Quint Bass; 2. Quart Bass. 1977 Early Music Oct. 570 (Advt.), [Recorders] The standard range is from Garklein to Bass, the Michael Praetorius range extends to a Quart Bass in C. |
▪ III. quart, n.3
(kɑːt)
[ad. F. quarte: see prec.]
1. A position in fencing (see quot. 1692) = quarte, carte2. quart and tierce, practice between fencers who thrust and parry in quart and tierce alternately; also fig.
| 1692 Sir W. Hope Fencing-Master 4 When a Man holdeth the Nails of his Sword-hand quite upwards, he is said to hold his hand in Quart. 1698 Farquhar Love & Bottle ii. ii, A Frenchman is bounded on the North with Quart, on the South with Tierce. 1727 Boyer Angl.-Fr. Dict., Quarte, a Quart, a Pass in Fencing. 1809 Malkin tr. Gil Blas iv. vii. (1881) II. 13 The assassin stab of time was parried by the quart and tierce of art. 1889 Tennyson Demeter & Persephone 173 Subtle at tierce and quart of mind with mind. |
| attrib. 1692 Sir W. Hope Fencing-Master 22 The Quart Parade, or the Parade within the Sword. Ibid. 105 Keeping this Quart Guard with a streight point. 1794 Hope's new Meth. Fencing 13 Supplying the defect of the Ordinary Quart Guard. |
2. A sequence of four cards, in piquet and other card-games. quart major, the sequence of ace, king, queen, knave.
| 1727 Boyer Angl.-Fr. Dict., Quarte, a Quart, or fourth, at Picket. 1746 Hoyle Whist (ed. 6) 26 Suppose you have..a Quart from a King;..your Partner has a Quart-major. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 342 [She] never dealt the right number of cards..did not know a quart from a quint. 1860 Bohn's Hand-bk. Games Pref. 12 Lead the highest of a sequence, but if you have a quart..to a King, lead the lowest. Ibid. ii. 45 A suit of which your partner has a quart-major. |
▪ IV. † quart, n.4
obs. variant of carte1, chart.
| 1529 Rastell Pastyme Prol. (1811) 5 As they..may well perceyue by the syght of the quart or Mappa mundi. |
▪ V. quart, v.1
(kɑːt)
[ad. F. quarter (Molière), f. quarte quart n.3]
a. intr. To use the position ‘quart’ in fencing. b. trans. To draw back (the head and shoulders) in doing so. Hence ˈquarting vbl. n.
| 1692 Sir W. Hope Fencing-Master *4 You must give it with your Nails in Quart, and Quart your head well. Ibid. 31 The Quarting of your head preserveth you from being hit in the face. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Quarting upon the streight line, keeping the Head and Shoulders very much back from the Adversary's Sword, when one thrusts with his own. 1833 New Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 343 He quarts and tierces for twenty minutes. |
▪ VI. quart, v.2
variant of quarter v. 11 b. rare—1.
| 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 136 The coachman..on quarting out as usual, and finding himself thus borne down upon, poured forth a volley of abuse. |