beat to quarters

English

Etymology

See beat (to signal beating a drum)

Verb

beat to quarters

  1. (intransitive, nautical) To summon the crew of a sailing man-of-war to their stations for action against an enemy. In the Royal Navy the drums were beaten to the rhythm of Heart of Oak.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.