quad

quad · noun, adjective, verb¹

Shortened, via clipping or abbreviation, from various English terms. Ultimately related to Latin quattuor (“4”); compare quadri-, quadruple. The typography senses are from the abbreviation quad. for obsolete quadrat; the keyboard command comes from the verb sense.

Quad · proper noun²

Short for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

First known use, by meaning

• 18th to 19th century A blank metal block used to fill short lines of type.
• 18th to 19th century A joke used to fill long days of setting type.
• 18th to 19th century A keyboard command which aligns text with the left or right margin, or centred between them. In combination, as quad left, quad right, or quad centre.
• from 1780s A quadrangle (quadrangular courtyard).
• from 1850s A horse, from colloquial or humorous quadruped specifically for horse.
• c. 1910 A poster advertising a cinematic film release, measuring forty by thirty inches, four times the area of crown paper.
• from 1890s Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).
• from 1890s A group of four insulated wires twisted together to form two circuits of two wires each.