quad

See also: quad- and Quad

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kwɑd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kwɒd/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒd

Etymology 1

From Latin.

Noun

quad (plural quads)

1. Four shots of espresso.
2. (chess) A kind of round-robin tournament between four players, where each participant plays every other participant once.
3. (Mormonism) The Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price bound in a single volume.
4. A poster, measuring forty by thirty inches, advertising a cinematic film release.

Adjective

quad (not comparable)

1. Having four shots of espresso.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• quad bike

See also

• quadr-, quadri-
• quadru-
• quin

Etymology 2

Clippings.

Noun

quad (plural quads)

1. (informal) A quadrangle (courtyard).
   • 2014, Walker Orenstein, for Norwest Asian Weekly, Cherry trees from Japan to grace UW campus:

     Every spring, the quad on the University of Washington (UW) campus transforms from a peaceful green space to a bustling habitat for hundreds of shuttering cameras, families, and onlookers.

2. (informal) A quadruplet (infant).
3. (informal, computer graphics) A quadrilateral.
   • 2010, Tony Mullen, Claudio Andaur, Blender Studio Projects: Digital Movie-Making (page 91)

     Tris and quads have different areas of functionality. In real-time graphics, tris are the norm because they provide the most basic geometric representations of planes.

4. (informal) The quadriceps muscle.
5. (informal) A quadriplegic person.
   • 2005, Nancy H. Blose, Behind the Curtain: Living as a Quadriplegic, Lulu Publishing, published 2015, →ISBN, page 74–75:

     The worse was the realization that this was my new reality. This too was Bill's debut as a husband of a quad and his first social gathering since June 22.

6. (informal) A quadrupel beer.
7. (informal) A quadcopter.
   • 2017 May 19, Ed Darack, “A Brief History of Quadrotors”, in Air & Space Magazine‎^[1]:

     Today you can buy quadrotor drones—also known as quadcopters—of just about any kind, for just about any price. The extremely wealthy can buy gold-plated quads, and the rest of us can buy tiny plastic ones.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• quaddie

• quad ruled
• quad strip

Adjective

quad (not comparable)

1. (poker slang) Of or relating to quads.

Translations

quadrangle — see quadrangle

quadruplet — see quadruplet

quadrilateral — see quadrilateral

Etymology 3

Abbreviation

Noun

quad (plural quads)

1. A quad bike (from quadricycle)
2. Abbreviation of quadrillion BTU. (10¹⁵ BTU)

See also

• Quad (unit) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

quad bike — see quad bike

Verb

quad (third-person singular simple present quads, present participle quadding, simple past and past participle quadded)

1. to ride a quad bike

Etymology 4

1785 Quads. pl, 1847 quads, verb 1876. From the abbreviation quad., for obsolete quadrat. Keyboard command is named for the verb sense.

Alternative forms

• quad. (obsolete)

Noun

quad (plural quads)

1. (letterpress typography) A blank metal block used to fill short lines of type.
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, “Household Words”, n 160 (April 16), p 148:

      “Quadrats, sir. We call 'em quads.” . . . Quads are the spaces left between the paragraphs that come white on the paper. If you look here, at this page that is set-up, you will see that they are deeper than the spaces left between the words and letters—regular little trenches.

   • 1979, Marshall Lee, Bookmaking, p 110:

     Horizontal spacing is further divided into multiples and fractions of the em. The multiples are called quads. The fractions are called spaces.

   • 2005, Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam, Type & Typography, 2nd ed, p 91:

     Other larger spaces – known as quads – were used to space out lines.

2. (printing slang) A joke used to fill long days of setting type.
3. (typography, phototypesetting and digital typesetting) A keyboard command which aligns text with the left or right margin, or centred between them. In combination, as quad left, quad right, or quad centre.

Synonyms

• em space
• quadrat (obsolete)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• em quad, 2-em quad, 3-em quad
• en quad

• mutton quad
• quad center/quad centre, quad left, quad middle, quad right

Verb

quad (third-person singular simple present quads, present participle quadding, simple past and past participle quadded)

1. (letterpress typography, transitive, intransitive) To fill spaces in a line of type with quads. Also quad out.
2. (typography, phototypesetting and digital typesetting, transitive, intransitive) To align text with the left or right margin, or centre it.

---

Dutch

Etymology

From English quad.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

quad m (plural quads, diminutive quadje n)

1. quad, quad bike

---

Italian

Noun

quad m (invariable)

1. quad bike

---

Polish

Etymology

From English quad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwɔt/

Noun

quad m inan

1. quad bike

   Synonyms: czterokołowiec, wszędołaz

Declension

declension of quad

	singular	plural
nominative	quad	quady
genitive	quada	quadów
dative	quadowi	quadom
accusative	quad	quady
instrumental	quadem	quadami
locative	quadzie	quadach
vocative	quadzie	quady

Further reading

• quad in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• quad in Polish dictionaries at PWN

---

Spanish

Noun

quad f (plural quads)

1. all-terrain vehicle