quartered, ppl. a.
(ˈkwɔːtəd)
[f. quarter v.]
1. Cut into quarters; divided in four; spec. of quarter-cleft timber, which being afterwards cut into planks shows the grain to advantage.
| 1502 Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 74 For twoo quartred bourdes with vysys. 1601 R. Yarington Two Lament. Traj. iv. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Bull always strips all quartered traitors quite. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Sea-men 32 Musquet shot, Colyuer shot, quartred shot. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 187 The most convenient..is a Lattice of quarter'd Wood, or Heart of Oak. 1805 Wordsworth Prelude ii. 83 Through three divisions of the quartered year. 1854 P. B. St. John Amy Moss 21 These palisades were formed of quartered oak. |
b. Her. Of a shield or arms: Divided or arranged quarterly. Of a cross: Quarterly-pierced.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. D ij b, Certan armys ther be quarterit and irrasit as here apperis, the Wich..ar called quarterit armys irrasit. 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. xvi. 235 He assumed the quartered arms on his accession to the ducal dignity. 1893 Cussans Heraldry (ed. 4) 166 The earliest known example of a quartered shield occurs on the monument of Eleanor..wife of Edward the First. |
† c. Of a building: Cruciform. Obs. rare—1.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Cruzero en edeficio, a kinde of quartered building, Structura quadrivialis. |
2. Mil. Lodged in or belonging to quarters.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. iv. 18 When they heare their Roman horses neigh, Behold their quarter'd Fires. 1824 J. H. Wiffen Tasso i. vi, To breme winter's wing The quartered hosts give place. |
3. Belonging to a quarter or part of the horizon.
| 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 202 And on the earth Nations besides from all the quarter'd winds. |
4. Having quarters of a specified character.
The sense in first quot. is not clear: the F. orig. has quarréz ‘square’.
| [1481 Caxton Godefroy 286 His armes grete and wel quartred.] 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 5 The lambes that forbeare grasse the longest prove..the straightest, and best quartered. 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v., A short-quartered horse. Ibid., Low-quartered shoes. |
5. Carpentry. Made of quarters.
| 1842–59 Gwilt Archit. (ed. 4) §2024 The framework of timber used for dividing the internal parts of a house into rooms is called a partition or quartered partition. |