Quarry

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -É’ri

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

Full definition of quarry

Noun

1. A site for mining stone, limestone or slate.''Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara
• Orwell Animal Farm|6There was a good quarry of limestone on the farm ...

Verb

1. (transitive) To obtain (mine) stone by extraction from a quarry.''Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To extract or slowly obtain by long, tedious searching.''They quarried out new, interesting facts about ancient Egypt from old papyri.

Synonyms

• (obtain stone by extraction) mine
• (extract by search) dig (up)

Derived terms

• quarrying (noun)

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."

Noun

1. An animal which is hunted, notably mammal or bird.
2. A part of the entrails of a hunted animal, given to the hounds.
3. An object of search or pursuit.
• ''A US State Department website advertised a reward of up to $1m (£500,000) for the capture of its quarry, who was described as 5ft 11in (180cm) tall, with a pale complexion, "a moustache and a long, heavy beard that is starting to grey". - BBC News website, 27 April 2007

Synonyms

• mark
• prey
• target

Verb

1. To secure prey; to prey, as a vulture or harpy.

An alteration of quarrel

Noun

1. A diamond-shaped tile or pane, notably of glass or stone