quarters

Quarters is a term with several related meanings centered on the idea of a division or place. It can refer to a place where people live or stay, such as living quarters in a house or building, or to a defined part of a town or city, like a district or neighborhood known as a quarter. The word ultimately derives from the idea of a fourth or a designated section of a larger whole.

In institutional and occupational contexts, quarters often describe the housing provided for people, such as military quarters, naval quarters, or dormitory quarters. The term may also indicate the location where a group is stationed or housed within an organization, building, or facility.

In money, time, and measurement, a quarter denotes one fourth of a given whole. In the United States, a quarter is a coin worth 25 cents, and the term is used to refer to one quarter of a dollar. Beyond currency, quarters are used in financial reporting to indicate a fiscal quarter, typically a three-month period within a year. The phrase quarter hour refers to a 15-minute interval of time. The general sense of quarter appears in many contexts to denote one of four equal parts or sections of a larger entity.

Examples of usage include urban descriptors like the “old quarters” of a city, housing such as “quarters for the crew,” and financial phrases like “first quarter results.”