quarter timen.adv.
/ˈkwɔːtə ˌtʌɪm/, U.S. /ˈkwɔrdər ˌtaɪm/ A. n.† 1. Music and Prosody. A quarter beat. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > proportion of notes or rhythm > [noun] > beat > of specific length
quarter time1706
1706 J. Weaver tr. R. A. Feuillet Orchesography 50 For a Time, half Time, or quarter Time, &c. they [sc. the rests] may be mark'd in the same manner as they are in Musick.
?1775 W. Waring tr. J.-J. Rousseau Dict. Music 64 He should sing or play more or less slowly, from one measure to another, and even from a time or quarter time, to him that follows.
1780 E. Capell Notes & Var. Readings Shakespeare II. 201 The disyllable loses the time belonging to't in virtue of it's Accent, and, from being a whole time in other situations, becomes a quarter-time here.
2. One quarter of customary working hours. Frequently attributive.
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1826 Times 25 July 3/1 One firm, we are told, have limited the hours to quarter time, being work for three days, instead of six days and six nights.
1871 Atlanta Constit. 20 June 1/1 One of our largest manufacturers in iron will probably reduce to quarter time for want of work.
1905 Times 14 Mar. 17/1 The staff consists of the medical officer, the assistant, a lady assistant (half time), two quarter-time assistants, [etc.].
1990 Database Searcher (Nexis) Apr. Three years ago the project added another professional at quarter time.
2004 Jrnl. Nursing Educ. Aug. 339/2 The salary for a single full-time faculty position could be..used to hire four master's prepared clinicians for quartertime positions.
3. Sport. The point or time at which the first quarter of a game, event, etc., is completed, in some team sports marked by a short break.
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society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > game or definite spell of play > end of
time1840
full time1871
half-time1871
quarter time1894
1894 Times 30 July 7/6 At quarter time he led Fontaine by over two miles and Horton by four... With three-quarters of the time completed Shorland was 22 miles ahead.
1910 Manitoba Morning Free Press 18 July 7/5 The score was 3 to 1 in their favor at quarter time.
1948 Amer. Econ. Rev. 38 431 In the second quarter, I found I had a fine view... I had forgotten that they changed goals at quarter-time!
2005 Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 17 Apr. [His] comeback came to a screeching halt..when he was sent off at quarter time.
B. adv.
For one quarter of customary working hours.
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1847 Times 4 May 5/5 We hear of factories working half, even quarter time, simply to keep the machinery from spoiling.
1889 Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator 2 Apr. 2/6 For six months the men have been working quarter time.
1968 Red Bluff (Calif.) Daily News 26 Dec. 12/2 The supervisors received a letter of resignation from..a clinical psychologist who has been working quarter time.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Apr. t31 The only paid employee..works quarter time mostly from her home.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adv.1706