(a) quarter past
idiom
: 15 minutes after (a stated hour)
The alarm went off at (a) quarter past six.
Examples of (a) quarter past in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
On Friday, at a quarter past four, after more than ten hours of deliberation, the jury rendered a verdict.
—
Charles Bethea, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2023
Marcie had been born on a Wednesday morning, at a quarter past eleven, but Rosalie’s water had broken almost eight hours earlier.
—Yiyun Li, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2023
The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are twelve passengers aboard, the wind is blowing Northeast, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon.
—Richard Malena, Popular Mechanics, 26 Dec. 2022
The first yellow school bus arrived at the Cache County Event Center about a quarter past noon.
—Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 June 2022
At a quarter past 8 AM, explosions began tearing through central Kyiv.
—Sebastien Roblin, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2022
The suspect was then taken into custody at around a quarter past midnight.
—Steven Hernandez, The Arizona Republic, 5 Sep. 2021
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Charles Bethea, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2023
Marcie had been born on a Wednesday morning, at a quarter past eleven, but Rosalie’s water had broken almost eight hours earlier.
—Yiyun Li, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2023
The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are twelve passengers aboard, the wind is blowing Northeast, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon.
—Richard Malena, Popular Mechanics, 26 Dec. 2022
The first yellow school bus arrived at the Cache County Event Center about a quarter past noon.
—Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 June 2022
At a quarter past 8 AM, explosions began tearing through central Kyiv.
—Sebastien Roblin, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2022
The suspect was then taken into custody at around a quarter past midnight.
—Steven Hernandez, The Arizona Republic, 5 Sep. 2021
Cite this Entry
“(a) quarter past.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/%28a%29%20quarter%20past. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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