quarry

SayKWOR-ee/ˈk(w)ɔɹ.i/UK/ˈkwɒɹ.i/

Pluralquarries

Verbquarries, quarrying, quarried

8 meanings of quarry

Practice

1
nouncountable
A large open pit where workers dig stone like limestone or slate out of the ground.
Like a giant outdoor pit where stone is dug out of the earth.
The old quarry near town supplied stone for the cathedral.
Workers cut huge blocks of marble at the quarry every day.
Similarpit, excavation
Note
2
noununcountable
An animal that is being hunted by a person or another animal.
Like the mouse that a cat chases across the room.
The fox is often the quarry of country hunts.
The eagle dived toward its quarry far below.
Similarprey, game, target, victim
Oppositepredator, hunter
Note
3
nouncountable
A person or thing that someone is trying hard to find or catch.
Like the hidden treasure a searcher is determined to find.
The detective tracked his quarry across three cities.
After months of searching, the journalist finally found her quarry.
Similartarget, prey, object, goal
Note
4
verbtransitive
To dig stone out of the ground at a large open pit.
Like digging stones out of the earth to use for building.
They quarry limestone here to make cement.
Local workers quarry slate for roofing tiles.
Similarextract, excavate, mine, dig, cut
Note
5
verbfigurativelytransitive
To slowly get information or something by searching for a long time.
Like digging through a huge pile of papers to find one answer.
She had to quarry the facts from dusty old records.
Reporters quarry the truth from people who don't want to talk.
Similarextract, mine, unearth, glean, dig
Note
6
nouncountable
A small diamond-shaped piece of glass or stone used in windows or floors.
Like a single diamond-shaped piece in a patterned window.
Each quarry in the old window was held in place by lead.
The hallway was laid with rows of red clay quarries.
Similarlozenge, diamond
Note
7
verbintransitive
To hunt down and seize prey, the way a bird of prey does.
Like an owl swooping down to grab a mouse.
Eagles quarry along the cliffs at dawn.
The falcon quarried on a pigeon in midair.
Similarprey, hunt

Less common meaning

8
nounobsoleteuncountable
The parts of a killed animal that are given to the hunting dogs as a reward.
Quarry, among hunters, is ſometimes uſed for part of the viſcera of the beaſt taken; given by way of reward to the hounds.
[1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “Quarry”Here, quarry means part of the hunted animal's insides, given to the hounds.
Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1, 4–5

It comes from a Latin word meaning "to square," because a quarry was a place where stones were squared.

Meanings 2–3, 7–8

It comes from an old French word for the deer's insides that were given to the hunting dogs as a reward.

Meaning 6

It is a changed form of the word "quarrel," a diamond-shaped piece of glass or tile.