Quarry Definition

kwôrē, kwŏrē
quarried, quarries, quarrying
noun
quarries
An animal that is being hunted down, esp. with dogs or hawks; prey.
Webster's New World
Anything being hunted or pursued.
Webster's New World
An object of pursuit.
The police lost their quarry in the crowd.
American Heritage
A square or diamond-shaped piece of glass, tile, etc.
Webster's New World
A place where building stone, marble, or slate is excavated, as by cutting or blasting.
Webster's New World
verb
quarried, quarries, quarrying
To excavate from a quarry.
Webster's New World
To extract (facts, for example) by long, careful searching.
Finally quarried out the genealogy from hundreds of sources.
American Heritage
To make a quarry in (land)
Webster's New World

To obtain (mine) stone by extraction from a quarry.

Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara.
Wiktionary

(figuratively) To extract or slowly obtain by long, tedious searching.

They quarried out new, interesting facts about ancient Egypt from old papyri.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Quarry

Noun

Singular:
quarry
Plural:
quarries

Origin of Quarry

  • Middle English querre entrails of a deer given to hounds as a reward from Old French cuiriee alteration (influenced by cuir skin) of coree from Vulgar Latin corāta viscera from Latin cor heart kerd- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From quirre "entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to dogs of the chase as a reward," from Anglo-Norman quirreie, from Old French cuiriee, altered (influenced by Old French cuir "skin," from Latin corium "hide"), from corée "viscera, entrails," from Vulgar Latin corata "entrails," from Latin cor "heart."

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English quarey from Medieval Latin quareria, quareia alteration of Old French quarriere from quarre cut stone from Latin quadrum square kwetwer- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Medieval Latin quarreria (1266), literally a "place where stones are squared", from Latin quadrare "to square", itself from quadra 'a square'

    From Wiktionary

  • An alteration of quarrel

    From Wiktionary

  • Variant of quarrel

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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