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Naut.), a balcony on the quarter of a ship. See Gallery, 4. -- Quarter gunner (Naut.), a petty officer who assists the gunner. -- Quarter look, a side glance. [Obs.] B. Jonson. -- Quarter nettings (Naut.), hammock nettings along the quarter rails. -- Quarter note (Mus.), a note equal in duration to half a minim or…

A petty officer who attends to the helm, binnacle, signals, and the like, under the direction of the master. Totten. Quartermaster general (Mil.), in the United States a staff officer, who has the rank of brigadier general and is the chief officer in the quartermaster's department; in England, an officer of high rank s…

One who lays informations, and encourages petty lawsuits. [Obs.] Bacon.

A petty king; a ruler of little power or consequence.

Quality or state of being restringent; astringency. [Obs.] Sir W. Petty.

A petty or powerless king. [R.] there were at this time two other royalets, as only kings by his leave. Fuller.

The governor of a province in ancient Persia; hence, a petty autocrat despot.

A little or petty sect. [R.] "Some new sect or sectiuncle." J. Martineau.

Trickery; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark. [Obs.] South. Baskin shark, Liver shark, Nurse shark, Oil shark, Sand shark, Tiger shark, etc. See under Basking, Liver, etc. See also Dogfish, Houndfish, Notidanian, and Tope. -- Gray shark, the sand shark. -- Hammer-headed shark. See Hammerhead. -- Port Ja…

Petty rapine; trick; also, seeking a livelihood by shifts and dishonest devices.

To bite or nibble like a sheep; hence, to practice petty thefts. [Obs.] Shak.

One who practices petty thefts. [Obs.] Shak. There are political sheepbiters as well as pastoral; betrayers of public trusts as well as of private. L'Estrange.

To procure by petty fraud and trickery; to obtain by mean solicitation. You that never heard the call of any vocation, . . . that shirk living from others, but time from Yourselves. Bp. Rainbow.

ter found in troughs of grindstones after the grinding of edge tools. [Prov. Eng.] Sir W. Petty.

Ridiculously small; petty. "Snippety facts." London Spectator.

Hence, a petty combat, esp. a verbal one; a little quarrel, dispute, or dissension. [U. S.]

or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite. Pope. This is the deadly spite that angers. Shak.

A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay. Who copied his squibs, and reëchoed his jokes. Goldsmith.

A petty squire. Tennyson.

aptain's steward, wardroom steward, steerage steward, warrant officers steward, etc., are petty officers who provide for the messes under their charge.