Emily Dickinson Lexicon

QUART'ER, v.t.

1. To divide into four equal parts.
2. To divide; to separate into parts. – Shak.
3. To divide into distinct regions or compartments. The sailors quarter'd heaven. – Dryden.
4. To station soldiers for lodging; as, to quarter troops in the city or among the inhabitants, or on the inhabitants.
5. To lodge; to fix on a temporary dwelling. They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter'd. – Shak.
6. To diet. [Not in use.] – Hudibras.
7. To bear as an appendage to the hereditary arms. The coat of Beauchamp … quartered by the Earl of Hertford. – Peacham. [To quarter arms, is to place the arms of other families in the compartments of a shield, which is divided into four quarters, the family arms being placed in the first quarter. But when more than three other arms are to be quartered with the family arms, it is usual to divide the shield into a suitable number of compartments; and still the arms are said to be quartered. A person has a right to quarter the arms of any family from an heiress, of which he is descended.— E. H. B.]