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quartermaster

UK/ˈkwɔːtɚˌmɑːstə/US/ˈk(w)ɔɹtɚˌmæstɚ/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,680 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: quartermasters

A quartermaster is the officer in charge of supplies. The regiment's quartermaster, ask the quartermaster, a quartermaster sergeant.

Armies are fed and moved rather than merely fought, and the saying is that amateurs discuss tactics while professionals discuss logistics — which is the quartermaster's whole business. At sea the quartermaster steers the ship, which is a different job with the same name.

Wojciech Kossak · Public domain

Definitions of quartermaster

  1. 1nounquartermasterThe officer in charge of supplies.C1

    “The quartermaster handed out boots and blankets to the new recruits.”

quartermaster is an officer.

Where it comes from

Quarter plus master, from quarters in the sense of lodgings. The naval sense came separately through Dutch.

  1. Dutch

    kwartiermeester

  2. Middle English

    quartermayster

  3. English, today

    quartermaster

From Middle English quartermayster, quartermaistre, equivalent to quarter + master. Perhaps reinforced by and merged with Dutch kwartiermeester, kwartier-meester. Compare German Quartiermeister, French quartier-maître.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

quartermaster in the wild

  • Company quartermaster sergeant is a military rank or appointment.

    Company quartermaster sergeant

  • In many navies, a quartermaster is a seaman or petty officer with responsibility for navigation and operation of the helm of a ship.

    Quartermaster

  • As such, it acts as quartermaster to the army.

    United States Army Quartermaster Corps

  • The QMS trains soldiers, civilians, and members of other services and nations in quartermaster skills and functions.

    United States Army Quartermaster Corps

  • The Quartermaster General of the United States Army serves as the quartermaster general of the United States Army and head of the United States Army Quartermaster Corps.

    Quartermaster General of the United States Army

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.