surgical operation, surgical procedure, surgical process, surgery, operation - a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body; they will schedule the operation as soon as an operating room is available; he died while undergoing surgery.
A quarter mile is, by definition, a fourth of a mile. It is 1,320 feet or 402.3 meters. On a standard-sized Olympic track, it is a little more than a single lap.
One quarter mile is 400 meters = 437.5 yards, so we did 440 yards. One half mile is 800 meters = 875.2 yards so they used 880 yards. Then we used 1760 yards because it was a mile. Timers with stop watches would go to the side of the pool and when the swimmers swam past the markings they would stop their watch.