Skip to content
Vinony

quadrat

noun

  1. any of a group of small, usually rectangular plots of land used for sampling the occurrence of species or of archaeological artifacts
  2. a piece of type metal lower than the raised typeface, used for filling spaces and blank lines
L1494752 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈkwɒd.ɹæt/

noun

Etymology: Attested since 1683. Possibly from French cadrat or Italian quadrato (“square”), from Latin quadrātum (“square”). Doublet of quadrate and of etymology 1 above. 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.

  1. A quad; a blank metal block used to fill space in lines of type.

    “If his Title be ſhort, he Sets it in the middle of the Line, by Setting Quadrats on both ſides: If his Title be long, he Sets the middle Line in the middle: If it make three or more Lines, he Indents the firſt with an m Quadrat, and the other with two m Quadrats.”

    “The footsticks may be a trifle shorter than the width of two pages and the gutter; for as there should always be a line of quadrats, or a reglet cut to measure, at the foot of each page, the footstick may be a pica shorter without danger, on this account, of any thing falling out, when the form is lifted and it thus prevents the side and foot sticks from binding when locked up.”

  2. A virtual rectangular subdivision of a line or column of hieroglyphs within which a group of hieroglyphs is arranged.

verb

Etymology: Borrowed from Latin quadrātum. Doublet of quadrate and of etymology 2 below.

  1. To place a quadrat, or divide into quadrats.