quartering
/ˈkwɔːt(ə)rɪŋ
/noun
1 (quarterings) Heraldry The coats of arms marshalled on a shield to denote the marriages into a family of the heiresses of others.The devices of ornament can amplify, by doubling and redoubling or other types of repetition and variation, these degrees of status as in heraldic quarterings and the chevrons of rank....
- At Fonthill the crest and the thirty-six quarterings of Beckford's full coat-of-arms were blazoned on the carpets and painted glass windows.
- Staunchly imperialist, he is a living manifestation of quintessential Englishness, a living descendant of people with blue blood, noble quarterings, and the right school tie.
2 [mass noun] The provision of accommodation or lodgings, especially for troops.In November, English recruiting officers appeared in Boston, and the Assembly and the Boston magistrates forbade any recruiting or any quartering of troops in the town....
- Attempts at forcible conversion involved the quartering of troops - often dragoons, hence dragonnades - on Huguenot households.
- Following extant written sources, this process has been seen in relation to the quartering of troops that occurred during the war between the Byzantines and the Goths, or simply as the result of occupation by squatters.
3 [mass noun] The action of dividing something into four parts.In this case, dissection took the place of quartering; it was likewise viewed as a form of supplementary punishment, a further mark of infamy, inflicted on the criminal after death....
- They have proven themselves incorrigible; drawing and quartering would be too good for them.
- A purely spatial focus, they argue, is limiting because it encourages static conceptions of walling and quartering.
