quarter day
1
9.9
- noun
- UK
:
día de pago
- It just made me thankful that 363-and-one-quarter days a year were not Parents' Day, and my parents wouldn't have to see each other.
Examples
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Not even if the husband goes to gaol or the wife is starving can a penny be got at, save the dividends at each quarter-day ("Lady" 208).
Academic text (2016) -
Many landlords collect rent payments on quarter day, which is traditionally observed four times a year.
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The business owner marked quarter day on the calendar to ensure all financial obligations were met.
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Each quarter day, tenants are reminded that their rent is due along with other payments.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'quarter' (a fourth) and 'day' (a calendar day) make it fairly clear that this refers to one of four particular days in the year, so the basic temporal sense is compositional. However, the specialized institutional meaning — that these are traditional dates for rents/payments and certain observances — is conventional and culturally specific and not fully predictable from the words alone, so learners may not infer the payment/ceremonial function without exposure.
Etymology
The noun quarter day comes from an old practice of dividing the year into four parts called quarters. On each quarter day people brought 'rent' or went to hiring fairs, so the phrase now means one of those set days when 'payments' or contracts were due.