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.

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quarter section British  

noun

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

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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

Have you ever turned the first sod on a quarter section with a spade, and then stopped and looked over the vast expanse before you?

From Neighbours by Stead, Robert J. C.

However, I bought a quarter section of it adjoining the tract which J.B.

From Some Pioneers and Pilgrims on the Prairies of Dakota Or, From the ox team to the aeroplane by Reese, H. B.

Then he would go to the nearest Dominion Lands Office and file on a quarter section away in some remote region, where there would be little chance of his identity being discovered.

From The Bail Jumper by Stead, Robert J. C.