Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Printing A piece of type metal lower than the raised typeface, used for filling spaces and blank lines.
  • noun Any of a group of small, usually rectangular plots of land used for sampling the occurrence of species or of archaeological artifacts.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See quadrate.
  • noun In printing, a blank type for the larger blank spaces in or at the end of printed lines, cast lower in height, so that it shall not be inked or impressed: made in four forms for all text type—en, em, two-em, three-em. Usually abbreviated to quad.
  • noun The low quadrat, for letterpress work, is about three fourths of an inch high: the high quadrat, for stereotype work, is about ten twelfths of an inch high.
  • noun An instrument furnished with sights, a plummet, and an index, and used for measuring altitudes, but superseded by more perfect instruments in modern use. Also called geometrical square, and line of shadows.
  • noun A series or set of four.
  • noun In experimental agriculture, a square area of convenient size laid off for the purpose of accurate planting.
  • noun In phytogeography, a similar square laid off for close study of the relative abundance of species or of other questions.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Print.) A block of type metal lower than the letters, -- used in spacing and in blank lines.
  • noun An old instrument used for taking altitudes; -- called also geometrical square, and line of shadows.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun sciences A rectangular area of land, marked for studying its plants, animals, soil, natural processes, etc.
  • noun obsolete A quad; a blank metal block used to fill space in lines of type.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, a square geometric instrument, rectangular area; see quadrate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin quadrātum.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1683. Probably from French cadrat or Italian quadrato ("square"), originally from Latin quadrātum ("square"). So called because the basic quadrat, the em quadrat, has a square face, having the same width as the height of a line of type.

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Examples

  • És un volum quadrat, amb un dels quatre costats suavitzats amb una línia corba i ondulant.

    La Biblioteca del Shion Junior College | [bauen] 2009

  • A grans trets, la proposta presentada per Kahn consistia en un edifici amb una planta en forma de creu piramidal esglaonada, fins arribar a un mòdul superior quadrat de 5. 25m de costat.

    Projecte per a la Biblioteca de la Universitat de Washington | [bauen] 2009

  • My first taste of a round quadrat obviously inspired me!

    Cyber-Dirt Jess 2010

  • A key distinguishing aspect of this study was its high spatial resolution and rigorous analysis techniques (quadrat analysis, Choropleth maps).

    Tornado Alley: What's that??? 2010

  • The letterpress landscape is littered with Qs: quad (short for quadrat), quoin, quarto, quire, question & quotation marks, even quadrata (Roman inscriptional capitals, of which I am particularly fond).

    A to Z: Q is for Quatrefoil Unionpearl 2008

  • Sampling communities of ground-foraging ants: pitfall catches compared with quadrat counts in an Australian tropical savanna.

    Arnhem Land tropical savanna 2008

  • The transitional location has made the Park a center of endemism for spinifex (Triodia spp.) resulting in the highest density of species anywhere in Australia (13 in a 1º x 1. 5º quadrat), including T. bunglensis, which is endemic to the Park.

    Purnululu National Park, Australia 2008

  • The letterpress landscape is littered with Qs: quad (short for quadrat), quoin, quarto, quire, question & quotation marks, even quadrata (Roman inscriptional capitals, of which I am particularly fond).

    Archive 2008-09-01 Unionpearl 2008

  • A quadrat, unlike an island, is not ecologically isolated.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

  • A quadrat, unlike an island, is not ecologically isolated.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

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