# quarry

Pronunciation: say "KWOR-ee" US /ˈk(w)ɔɹ.i/, UK /ˈkwɒɹ.i/

## Noun

1. An open excavation site where stone such as limestone, marble, or slate is extracted from the ground.
   - Simple: A large open pit where workers dig stone like limestone or slate out of the ground.
   - _The limestone quarry has operated for more than a century._
   - _Several abandoned quarries now fill with rainwater and serve as lakes._
2. An animal, frequently a bird or mammal, that is the target of a hunt.
   - Simple: An animal that is being hunted by a person or another animal.
   - _The hounds finally cornered their quarry at the edge of the wood._
   - _Lions stalk their quarry patiently through the tall grass._
3. A person or thing that is the object of someone's search or pursuit.
   - Simple: A person or thing that someone is trying hard to find or catch.
   - _The investigators closed in on their quarry after a long pursuit._
   - _The rare first edition was the collector's elusive quarry._
6. A diamond-shaped tile or pane, frequently made of glass or stone.
   - Simple: A small diamond-shaped piece of glass or stone used in windows or floors.
   - _The leaded window was made up of dozens of small glass quarries._
   - _A single cracked quarry let the rain seep through the casement._

## Verb

4. To extract stone from the earth by cutting or removing it from an open pit.
   - Simple: To dig stone out of the ground at a large open pit.
   - _Workers quarry granite from the ridge using heavy machinery._
   - _Ancient builders quarried limestone to construct their great temples._
5. To obtain or extract something slowly through long, painstaking searching.
   - Simple: To slowly get information or something by searching for a long time.
   - _Historians quarry forgotten details from centuries of private correspondence._
   - _She quarried the decisive quotation from a thousand pages of transcripts._
7. To seize prey; to hunt and capture, as a vulture or harpy does.
   - Simple: To hunt down and seize prey, the way a bird of prey does.
   - _The great raptors quarry across the valley each spring._
   - _The harpy quarried upon any creature unlucky enough to cross the marsh._

## Noun

8. A portion of a hunted animal's entrails, given to the hounds as their reward after the kill. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The parts of a killed animal that are given to the hunting dogs as a reward.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 4–5** — From Middle English quarere and Medieval Latin quarreria (1266), literally a "place where stones are squared." It traces through Old French quarrière and Vulgar Latin *quadraria to Latin quadrō ("I square") and quadra ("a square"), ultimately from a root meaning "four."
**Meanings 2–3, 7–8** — From Middle English quyrre, from Anglo-Norman quiree, the entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to the hunting dogs as a reward. It was influenced by cuir ("animal skin," from Latin corium) and derives from coree ("entrails"), from Vulgar Latin corata, from Latin cor ("heart").
**Meaning 6** — An alteration of quarrel, meaning a diamond-shaped piece of colored glass forming part of a stained glass window, or a square tile.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/quarry (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).