quarter section

American  

noun

Western U.S.

1. (in surveying and homesteading) a square tract of land, half a mile on each side, thus containing ¼ sq. mi. or 160 acres. q.s.

---

quarter section British  

noun

1. a land measure, used in surveying, with sides half a mile long; 160 acres

---

Etymology

Origin of quarter section

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805

Example Sentences

Secretary Roper precipitately announced that PWA would allocate $1,500,000 to build a quarter section of one sea-drome behind the Delaware Breakwater.

From Time Magazine Archive

Harnack's narrator is a middle-aged dirt farmer named August who left Iowa in his youth, then returned, half unwilling, to the quarter section staked out by his grandfather.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was married in Prescott to a daughter of Joseph Mosier, and subsequently pre-empted a quarter section of land on Prescott prairie.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by Folsom, William Henry Carman

"They are never here," said Spaight, jumping from the auto and sweeping his hand about over a beautiful quarter section of land, one of the finest in the county.

From The Homesteader A Novel by Micheaux, Oscar

N. C. D. Taylor pre-empted the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 25, and the west half of the same quarter section; also lot 1, section 36, township 34, range 19.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by Folsom, William Henry Carman