first quarter

American  

noun

Astronomy.

• first quarters
  plural

1. the instant, approximately one week after a new moon, when one half of the moon's disk is illuminated by the sun.

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first quarter British  

noun

1. one of the four principal phases of the moon, occurring between new moon and full moon, when half of the lighted surface is visible from earth Compare last quarter

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• first quarters
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of first quarter

First recorded in 1905–10

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

first quarter

But as he so often does, Doncic went to work in the first quarter, terrorizing Lendeborg and the Warriors’ faithful with 21 points.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

The other services saw the drop narrow from 21% in the first quarter to a decline of 18% in the second quarter, according to the study.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

Microsoft’s Azure grew 48%, and lifting total revenue to $92.28 billion, up 19%, for its fiscal first quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

The stock is poised to gain 20% or more by the first quarter judging by technical indicators.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

In the first quarter of 2007 Scion Capital was up nearly 18 percent.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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