charge of quarters
- noun
- /tʃɑrdʒ əv ˈkwɔrtərz/
- Jargon
:
encargado de cuarteles
- The charge of quarters is responsible for monitoring visitors to the barracks.
Examples
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After dinner, Sergeant Miller served as charge of quarters until midnight.
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Private Lee was assigned as the charge of quarters during the holiday weekend.
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The sergeant is on charge of quarters tonight.
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During his charge of quarters, he ensured everything was in order.
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Sergeant Miller took his duties as charge of quarters seriously, ensuring all reports were filed correctly.
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Private Lee was on duty as charge of quarters, handling administrative tasks for the unit.
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The charge of quarters carefully recorded all visitor entries to maintain security in the barracks.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The combination of 'charge' (a person/duty under responsibility) and 'quarters' (living spaces) gives a learner a straightforward sense of 'a person responsible for the living quarters', so a basic idea of responsibility is derivable from the constituents. However, the exact institutional/military meaning — an assigned after‑hours administrative/watch duty — is specialized and not fully predictable from the words alone, making the phrase only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase charge of quarters comes from military life: the word charge means 'in charge' and quarters means the soldiers' rooms, so it pictured someone watching the living area and answering visitors. That's why it now means 'the person responsible for after-hours duty'.
