| quarter-hour |
a period of fifteen minutes. [2 definitions] |
| quarterly |
happening or appearing four times a year, esp. at the end of each three-month period. [4 definitions] |
| quartermaster |
in the military, an officer who arranges for and distributes food, housing, clothing, and other provisions. [2 definitions] |
| quarter note |
in music, a note whose duration is one fourth that of a whole note. |
| quartersaw |
to saw (a log) lengthwise into quarters and then into boards. |
| quarter section |
a unit of area equal to one fourth of a section, one fourth of a square mile, or 160 acres, used in dividing land into square parcels. |
| quarter sessions |
an English local court, held quarterly, that has civil and criminal jurisdiction for all but the most serious crimes. [2 definitions] |
| quarterstaff |
a hefty, wooden, iron-tipped pole, six to eight feet in length, formerly used as a weapon in England. |
| quarter tone |
in music, an interval equal to one half of a semitone. |
| quartet |
four musicians or singers who perform together as a group. [3 definitions] |
| quarto |
in printing, the size of a page equal to one quarter of a standard whole sheet, or about nine by twelve inches. [3 definitions] |
| quartz |
a common, hard, widely distributed mineral that occurs as many glasslike crystalline forms of silicon dioxide. |
| quartz crystal |
in electronics, a thin plate or rod that is cut from quartz, ground, polished, and finished in such a way that it vibrates at a specific frequency. |
| quartzite |
a metamorphic rock that consists of quartz and hardened sandstone. |
| quartz lamp |
a mercury-vapor lamp, enclosed within transparent quartz, that emits ultraviolet rays when an electric current is passed through it. |
| quasar |
any of numerous astronomical objects that emit powerful radio waves and have red shifts associated with great distance from earth; quasi-stellar radio source. |
| quash1 |
to subdue or suppress forcefully and decisively. |
| quash2 |
to declare to be of no effect, esp. in a legal proceeding; set aside; annul. |
| quasi- |
to some extent; somewhat. |
| quasi-stellar radio source |
see "quasar." |
| quassia |
a scarlet-flowered tropical American tree, the wood of which is used in making furniture. [2 definitions] |