quarry
1 Americannoun
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an excavation or pit, usually open to the air, from which building stone, slate, or the like, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.
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an abundant source or supply.
verb (used with object)
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to obtain (stone) from or as if from a quarry.
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to make a quarry in.
noun
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an animal or bird hunted or pursued.
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game, especially game hunted with hounds or hawks.
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any object of search, pursuit, or attack.
noun
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an open surface excavation for the extraction of building stone, slate, marble, etc, by drilling, blasting, or cutting
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a copious source of something, esp information
verb
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to extract (stone, slate, etc) from or as if from a quarry
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(tr) to excavate a quarry in
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to obtain (something, esp information) diligently and laboriously
he was quarrying away in the reference library
noun
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a square or diamond shape
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something having this shape
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another word for quarrel 2
noun
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an animal, bird, or fish that is hunted, esp by other animals; prey
-
anything pursued or hunted
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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quarrysimple
-
quarriessimple
-
have quarriedperfect
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has quarriedperfect
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am quarryingprogressive
-
are quarryingprogressive
-
is quarryingprogressive
-
have been quarryingperfect progressive
-
has been quarryingperfect progressive
Past
-
quarriedsimple
-
had quarriedperfect
-
was quarryingprogressive
-
were quarryingprogressive
-
had been quarryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of quarry1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noun quarrei, quarey, quar(r)i, from Medieval Latin quareia, quarrea, quareria, from Old French quarriere, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin quadrāria “place where stone is squared,” derivative of Latin quadrāre “to square”
Origin of quarry2
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English quirre, querre, quirrei “parts of a deer given to the hounds,” from Old French cuiree, cuiriee, curee “viscera, entrails” (probably influenced by cuir “leather, hide, skin”), from Latin corium “skin, hide, leather”), from Late Latin corāta (plural) “entrails,” from cor “heart”
Origin of quarry3
First recorded in 1535–45; noun use of obsolete adjective quarry “square,” from Old French quarre, from Latin quadrātus quadrate
Explanation
Both meanings of quarry have to do with going after something. An animal being hunted is called quarry, and when you dig a hole in the earth looking for rocks, both the digging and the hole are called quarry as well. Gross fact: Quarry derives from the Latin cor "heart," because hunters used to drape the entrails of their chosen quarry on their dogs' backs. The origin in a word for "heart" can help you remember both quarries: a rock quarry is searching down toward the heart of the earth; a stag's heart is considered a hunter's greatest prize.
Vocabulary lists containing quarry
Touching Spirit Bear
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It put $75 million into the stock of Perpetua Resources, a mining company that is extracting gold and antimony from an abandoned quarry in Idaho.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Francis Ngannou dropped out of school to work in a sand quarry at 10 years old and illegally migrated from Cameroon to France to pursue boxing, and went from homeless to heavyweight champion.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
There are strict rules in California around the purchasing of dynamite, which is generally restricted to licensed professionals working in mining and quarry operations, building demolitions, tunneling projects and specialized industrial activities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
"This quarry is not a place to swim and it is certainly not a tourist attraction."
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
Once he stood at the guardhouse door of a quarry, and some ladies dressed in warm heavy coats and boots came and sang Christmas songs.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
The company’s construction-products arm—which includes 109 quarries and yards, nine asphalt plants and 19 terminals—recorded roughly 35 million tons of aggregates shipments last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Number two was Vulcan Materials, which operates rock quarries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
But many sections of green belt today contain intensive farming units, industrial buildings, quarries and golf courses.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2025
When the FTC first moved against this practice with a 1973 rule, its quarries were 72 book clubs and four record clubs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025
An hour later we were in Dominick’s car headed to swim at the quarries.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Most of the Aravallis lie in Rajasthan, and a quarter of the state's hills have been quarried, a 2018 Supreme Court-constituted committee found.
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
Twelve massive chunks of white stone were quarried there, transported in their raw state across the border and piled in six pairs adjacent to a Desert Hot Springs wind farm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2025
Mr Gray, from Shipley, who started working as a stone dresser in 1997, used power and hand tools to make paving slabs from reclaimed quarried stone.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2024
According to Mega Cavern, enough limestone was originally quarried out to rebuild all three pyramids of Giza.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2023
The Tehlin church was the nicest building in town, three stories tall and made of quarried stone.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
“It builds on our core quarrying competency, expands our geographic footprint and immediately establishes Martin Marietta as the leading national producer of lime solutions,” he said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Jobs connected to mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction also saw strong wage growth, according to the analysis.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
After analyzing the model, the team identified 30 distinct quarrying areas, each showing unique carving approaches.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2025
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the deadly blast happened in a building dedicated to making “boosters” – charges used for mining, construction and quarrying.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
All the other visible hills, including those facing me across the narrow valley, looked to be in good health, except where they had been scarred and gouged by quarrying or strip mining, which was regularly.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
