quarter day

American  

noun

1. (in England, Ireland, and Wales) one of the four days, Lady Day, Midsummer Day, Michaelmas, or Christmas, regarded as marking off the quarters of the year, on which quarterly payments are due, tenancies begin and end, etc.

2. (in Scotland) one of the four days, Candlemas, Whitsunday, Lammas, or Martinmas, regarded as marking off the quarters of the year.

---

quarter day British  

noun

1. any of four days in the year when certain payments become due. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland these are Lady Day, Midsummer's Day, Michaelmas, and Christmas. In Scotland they are Candlemas, Whit Sunday, Lammas, and Martinmas

---

Etymology

Origin of quarter day

First recorded in 1470–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

quarter day

There remains practically a quarter day, which every four years could be counted an accumulated full day.

From Time Magazine Archive

The periodic time of the earth is 365 days, omitting the quarter day.

From Aether and Gravitation by William George Hooper

I lose the interest for only four days,' he says—'last Monday, the fifteenth, being my quarter day.

From Copper Streak Trail by Eugene Manlove Rhodes

It was strange that the haughtiest of human beings should be the meanest, that one who seethed to reverence nothing on earth but himself should abase himself for the sake of quarter day.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

It must have been the Saturday after quarter day, something like the 12th or 13th of January—Gervaise didn't quite know.

From L'Assommoir by Émile Zola