quarry
1 Americannoun
-
quarries
plural
-
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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quarries,
present (3rd person singular)
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quarried,
past participle, past
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quarrying
present participle
-
to obtain (stone) from or as if from a quarry.
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to make a quarry in.
noun
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quarries
plural
-
an animal or bird hunted or pursued.
-
game, especially game hunted with hounds or hawks.
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any object of search, pursuit, or attack.
noun
-
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
-
a square or diamond shape
-
something having this shape
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another word for quarrel 2
noun
-
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
-
quarrysimple
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quarriessimple
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have quarriedperfect
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has quarriedperfect
-
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
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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:
Barlinnie was known for being a notoriously tough prison, where prisoners carried out hard labour, breaking rocks from a local quarry.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Although the quarry was discovered in 1992 and excavated through 2019, many of the fossils recovered there had never been formally described and remained largely unknown to science.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Lee Heyes jumped into a quarry when he was 15 after he realised the older teen had got into difficulty.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
As they launched their campaign against the quarry, “vested rights” soon became an indelible part of their vocabularies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
Her father was building churches as fast as he could quarry the stones.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
The Texas-based company said Tuesday that Virginia quarry operator Luck Stone will expand its use of autonomous haul trucks to two additional quarries following an 18-month autonomous hauling pilot at its Bull Run, Va., operation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
While exports continued well into the 20th Century, the industry was dealt a devastating blow in 1881 by a huge wave that flooded the seven quarries, including the venue for the skimming contest.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
On another nearby property overlooking an ancient sea wall, excavations revealed two stone quarries "one Roman and the other Phoenician", she said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
The site contains multiple fossil quarries that have been excavated for decades and continues to yield exceptionally preserved specimens from the Late Triassic.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026
At this time of year, it should have been full of fishing vessels and ships carrying goods from the north—woolens, lumber, stone from mountain quarries.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
The remains attributed to Samuel will be laid in a white sarcophagus made from marble quarried in the Prilep region of North Macedonia, public broadcaster BNT said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Local artists, with easy access to Carrara marble quarried just down the coast, created thousands of sculpted scenes that by turns commemorate, re-create or just refer to the dead in towering dioramas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Unlike the hard beach stones used at the nearby Neolithic village of Skara Brae, the stones used in the Ness buildings were quarried.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2024
Most of the material will be hauled away in dump trucks, which will make thousands of trips to return the rocks and earth to the original 37-acre pit where material was quarried for dam construction.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2024
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
Elsewhere, gains were seen in social work as well as mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction, the BLS said.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
States that depend heavily on extractive industries such as mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction tended to offer fewer protections for insects and arachnids.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026
Returning to the village late in the day, with her baskets and belly full of apples, Alyce cut through the manor field, near where the villagers had dug a pit for the quarrying of gravel.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
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.
