quarry

¹ American  

[kwawr-ee, kwor-ee] / ˈkwɔr i, ˈkwɒr i /

noun

plural

quarries

1. an excavation or pit, usually open to the air, from which building stone, slate, or the like, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.

2. an abundant source or supply.

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verb (used with object)

quarried, quarrying

1. to obtain (stone) from or as if from a quarry.

2. to make a quarry in.

quarry ² American  

[kwawr-ee, kwor-ee] / ˈkwɔr i, ˈkwɒr i /

noun

plural

quarries

1. an animal or bird hunted or pursued.

2. game, especially game hunted with hounds or hawks.

3. any object of search, pursuit, or attack.

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quarry ³ American  

[kwawr-ee, kwor-ee] / ˈkwɔr i, ˈkwɒr i /

noun

plural

quarries

1. a square stone or tile.

2. quarrel.

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quarry ¹ British  

/ ˈkwɒrɪ /

noun

1. an open surface excavation for the extraction of building stone, slate, marble, etc, by drilling, blasting, or cutting

2. a copious source of something, esp information

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verb

1. to extract (stone, slate, etc) from or as if from a quarry

2. (tr) to excavate a quarry in

3. to obtain (something, esp information) diligently and laboriously

   he was quarrying away in the reference library

quarry ² British  

/ ˈkwɒrɪ /

noun

1. a square or diamond shape

2. something having this shape

3. another word for quarrel 2

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quarry ³ British  

/ ˈkwɒrɪ /

noun

1. an animal, bird, or fish that is hunted, esp by other animals; prey

2. anything pursued or hunted

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Other Word Forms

• quarriable adjective
• quarryable adjective
• unquarried adjective

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

Example Sentences

Which reminds me of another hapless cartoon character who thought himself a genius but who kept screwing things up in ceaseless pursuit of his quarry: Wile E. Coyote.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026

Brown grew up near Middlesbrough, England, playing in a local rock quarry and climbing trees.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

The animals in the Chinese quarry, which were dated to around 512 million years ago, represent the first major discovery of soft-bodied fossils that lived directly after the Sinsk event, Han explained.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

A quarry in Oxfordshire revealed one of the world's largest-ever dinosaur trackway sites, with around 200 enormous footprints left behind 166 million years ago.

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2025

Many of them are paid laborers who work the fields during the growing season, and then come to Aswan to work in the quarry during the remainder of the year.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman