Hindquarters - why 25%?

I love the term "hindquarters", not least because it's one of the easier terms for the bottom to rhyme, coming well behind "rear" and about level with "posterior", "rump" and "behind", but well ahead of bottom, haunches, arse and ass; the worst is "buttocks", which as far as I know rhymes only with "futtocks", a technical boat-builder's term.

But why QUARTERS? The thing's very obviously divided in two, not four. That would suggest hindhalves (each buttock being one half). Possibly it comes from the bottom being seen as the rear half (the head, presumably, being the front half), so half a half is a quarter?

Anyway, "hindquarters" suggests there are frontquarters somewhere. Breasts??

Or is "quarters" here as in military quarters (accommodation for personnel), or seeking or giving quarter (offering or accepting surrender)? That last one is intriguing.

There is a military role called quartermaster. Hindquartermaster?

Hindquarter deals with quadruped, or 4 legged animals so a "hindquarter" wold be one side of the back half of the animal and the plural "hindquarters" would deal with both halves. If you think of a cow a hindquarter would be one back leg, rump and half of the back half of the body. The opposite would include the front legs and include the chest area.

For me the word HINDQUARTERS. was always associated with RACE HORSES. I have always fancied the French word 'derriere', always belonging to a sophisticated naughty woman who I wished wish to spank.

Lawndawg and sixofthebest are right. They beat me to it.

I read the term caboose used to mean bottom in an American spanking story.
I immediately thought of the British equivalent- "guard's van".
You couldn't really refer to a woman's bottom as her guard's van, could you.

I also quite like the word posterior. I used the pun spanked for 'posteriority' once only to have it pointed out as a spelling mistake!

I love that, jimism. That wasn't a Librarian, was it? Deserving of punishment if so.

Yes, I'm convinced: hindquarters like haunches and rump were originally used of four-legged animals, though it seems a bit weird to describe the four legs and what connects with them as quarters. Even on a horse or a cow the front bit looks so different!

Presumably an octopus' arse is its hindeighths.

Like haunches and rump the term isn't one you'd expect to be used on direct speech as in "You've got beautiful hindquarters", but in description I think it adds spice and as I implied, a spanking poet needs all the rhymes (s)he can find.

when thinking of a nice bottom I often think of the word canvas and of course the many shades you hope to paint on it

butt and thighs

In the olden days as a form of capital punishment they used to tie a rope to each leg and arm and then race off in different directions.

They referred to this as "quartering" the victim, so when referring to "hind quarters they are speaking of the two legs with the appropriate butt cheek attached of course. The arms of course would separate somewhere down each rib cage leaving the persons head attached to one of the quarters or possibly lose on the ground.

Rather gruesome by some standards but mankind has been known to do worse.

Thanks, cs, for lightening up this conversation!