From Middle English quarere, from Medieval Latin quarreria (1266), literally a “place where stones are squared”, from Old French quarrière (compare modern French carrière), from Vulgar Latin *quadraria, from Latin quadrō (“to square”), itself from quadra (“a square”), from quattuor (“four”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”).
Meanings
A site for mining stone, such as limestone, or slate.
There was a good quarry of limestone on the farm […] 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
Yet theſe are the men cry'd out againſt for ſchiſmaticks and ſectaries; as if, while the Temple of the Lord was building, ſome cutting, ſome ſquaring the marble, others hewing the cedars, there ſhould be a ſort of irrationall men who could not conſider there muſt be many ſchiſms and many diſſections made in the quarry and the timber, ere the houſe of God can be built. 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 32:
There have been found certain Cements under Earth, that are very ſoft, and yet taken forth into the Sun, harden as hard as Marble: There are alſo ordinary Quarries in Sommerſet-shire, which in the Quarry cut ſoft to any bigneſs, and in the Building prove firm, and hard. 1670, Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [Francis Bacon], “Century V”, in Sylva Sylvarum, or, A Natural History, in Ten Centuries. Whereunto is Newly Added, the History Natural and Experimental of [Life] and Death, or of the Prolongation of Life. Published after the Authors Death. By William Rawley, Doctor in Divinity, One of His Majesties Chaplains. Whereunto is Added Articles of Inquiry, Touching Metals and Minerals. And the New Atlantis. As also the Life of the Right Honorable Francis Bacon, Never Added to this Book before. [...] With an Alphabetical Table of the Principal Things Contained in the Ten Centuries, 9th and last edition, London: Printed by J[ohn] R[edmayne] for William Lee, and are to be sold by George Sawbridg [et al.], →OCLC, paragraph 850, page 183:
This is itself a cheerless spot, particularly on a rainy day, when, overshadowed by the great massif of rock that towers in the background, and surrounded by the grey and cheerless quarries, it has a depressing character much in contrast with the green verdure encountered on the northern end of this interesting branch line. 1954 August, H. M. Madgwick, “The Blaenau Festiniog Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 569:
Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara.
kk карьер (site for mining stone) · grc λιθοτομία (site for mining stone) · sh камено̀лом (site for mining stone) · uk каменя́рня (site for mining stone) · grc λατομία (site for mining stone) · lv lauztuve (site for mining stone) · cy chwarel (site for mining stone) · et karjäär (site for mining stone) · fa-ira کانِ سَنْگ (site for mining stone) · fa-ira مَعْدَنِ سَنْگ (site for mining stone) · cy cloddfa (site for mining stone) · fa-ira مَعْدَن (site for mining stone) · yue 採石場 /采石场 (site for mining stone) · ka ქვის სამტეხლო (site for mining stone) · ar مَقْلَع (site for mining stone) · ru каменоло́мня (site for mining stone) · uz tosh koni (site for mining stone) · lv akmeņlauztuve (site for mining stone) · lt skaldykla (site for mining stone) · sk lom (site for mining stone) · hi पाषाण खान (site for mining stone) · az karxana (site for mining stone) · mt barriera (site for mining stone) · es pedrera (site for mining stone) · la lapicīdīnae (site for mining stone) · tl tibagan (site for mining stone) · ro carieră (site for mining stone) · mi rua kerikeri (site for mining stone) · ota اوجاق (site for mining stone) · fi louhos (site for mining stone) · nb steinbrudd (site for mining stone) · id tambang batu (site for mining stone) · uk кар'є́р (site for mining stone) · sv kalkbrott (limestone) (site for mining stone) · ja 採石場 (site for mining stone) · pt pedreira (site for mining stone) · es pedrero (site for mining stone) · grc μέταλλον (site for mining stone) · eo ŝtonminejo (site for mining stone) · hy քարհանք (site for mining stone) · et murd (site for mining stone) · fo grótbrot (site for mining stone) · vi mỏ đá (site for mining stone) · ms kuari (site for mining stone) · ur کَھدان (site for mining stone) · tr maden (site for mining stone) · km រតនាយតនៈ (site for mining stone) · sv skifferbrott (site for mining stone) · ka კარიერი (site for mining stone) · it cava (site for mining stone) · lb Broch (site for mining stone) · be кар'е́р (site for mining stone) · ga cairéal (site for mining stone) · sh kamenòlom (site for mining stone) · nl steengroeve (site for mining stone) · ky таш чыгарылуучу жай (site for mining stone) · hu kőbánya (site for mining stone) · ca pedrera (site for mining stone) · fr carrière (site for mining stone) · th เหมืองหิน (site for mining stone) · sw kware (site for mining stone) · sq gurthyes (site for mining stone) · th ที่ขุดหิน (site for mining stone) · es cantera (site for mining stone) · gl pedreira (site for mining stone) · id tambang (site for mining stone) · ko 채석장 (site for mining stone) · cs lom (site for mining stone) · el λατομείο (site for mining stone) · kk тас қашалған орын (site for mining stone) · ky карьер (site for mining stone) · es tajo (site for mining stone) · ja 石切場 (site for mining stone) · lt karjeras (site for mining stone) · hu kőfejtő (site for mining stone) · pl kamieniołom (site for mining stone) · my ကျောက်မိုင်း (site for mining stone) · sl kamnolom (site for mining stone) · mk каменоло́м (site for mining stone) · it cava di pietra (site for mining stone) · uk каменоло́мня (site for mining stone) · hi खान (site for mining stone) · nn steinbrot (site for mining stone) · el πετροκοπιό (site for mining stone) · bg каменоло́мна (site for mining stone) · ur کھان (site for mining stone) · hi खादान (site for mining stone) · ru карье́р (site for mining stone) · da stenbrud (site for mining stone) · de Steinbruch (site for mining stone) · uz karyer (site for mining stone) · cmn 採石場 /采石场 (site for mining stone) · lo ບໍ່ຫີນ (site for mining stone) · is grjótnáma (site for mining stone) · sk kameňolom (site for mining stone) · sq gurore (site for mining stone) · be каменяло́мня (site for mining stone) · sv brott (site for mining stone) · bg карие́ра (site for mining stone) · el νταμάρι (site for mining stone) · tr taş ocağı (site for mining stone) · he מַחְצָבָה (site for mining stone) · gl canteira (site for mining stone) · tg кони санг (site for mining stone) · cs kamenolom (site for mining stone) · mi rua kerikeri kōwhatu (site for mining stone) · eo ŝtonejo (site for mining stone) · sv stenbrott (site for mining stone)
From Middle English quarere, from Medieval Latin quarreria (1266), literally a “place where stones are squared”, from Old French quarrière (compare modern French carrière), from Vulgar Latin *quadraria, from Latin quadrō (“to square”), itself from quadra (“a square”), from quattuor (“four”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”).
Meanings
(transitive) To obtain (or mine) stone by extraction from a quarry.
The stone of which this town and church was built, is somewhat of the nature of "rotten limestone,"—is quite light in color,—quarries out regularly and easily,—is soft, when first quarried, but becomes hard on exposure to the air. 1847, George C. Furber, chapter IV, in The Twelve Months Volunteer; or, Journal of a Private in the Tennessee Regiment of Cavalry, in the Campaign in Mexico, 1846–7 … Engravings from Drawings by the Author, Cincinnati, Oh.: J. A. & U. P. James, →OCLC; republished as The Twelve Months Volunteer: Journal of a Private in the Tennessee Regiment of Cavalry (Applewood's Military History Series), Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Publishers, 2009, →ISBN, page 150:
The incloſing of this country might alſo be effected, were the landlord to quarry the ſtones, and build the walls at his expence, and the tenant to carry the materials, and pay intereſt for the money advanced by the landlord. 1794, James Donaldson, “Miscellaneous Observations and Hints for Improvement”, in General View of the Agriculture of the County of Elgin or Moray, Lying between the Spey and the Findhorn; including Part of Strathspey, in the County of Inverness. With Observations on the Means of Its Improvement, … Drawn up for the Consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, London: Printed by C. Clarke, →OCLC, page 34:
In Lexington, which was just then establishing itself as the principal town in Kentucky, he found work quarrying stone for a tavern keeper. Once again, the wages were low, and his employer "strove by every means in his power to take advantage of me." 1999, Stephen A. Aron, “‘The Poor Men to Starve’: The Lives and Times of Workingmen in Early Lexington”, in Craig Thompson Friend, editor, The Buzzel about Kentuck: Settling the Promised Land, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 175:
Today the extractive industry utilizes sand and gravel reserves and quarries stone in Wingdale. 2008, Donna P. Hearn, “The Iron and Marble Industries”, in Dover (Images of America), Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 77:
(figuratively, transitive) To extract or slowly obtain by long, tedious searching.
They will be guided and inspired by such utterance as Parrington's diagnosis of Sinclair Lewis, where he quarries out a vein of his own enduring liberalism. 1927, Vernon Louis Parrington, The Beginnings of Critical Realism in America: 1860–1920 (Main Currents in American Thought; III), New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace, →OCLC; republished as Bruce Brown, “Introduction to the Transaction Edition”, in The Beginnings of Critical Realism in America, New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2013, →ISBN:
They quarried out new, interesting facts about ancient Egypt from old papyri.
The second part of Aristotle's work requires little description. […] It has been largely quarried by the grammarians and lexicographers of later ages, from whom modern students of Athenian antiquities have derived their information; […] 1892, F[rederic] G[eorge] Kenyon, “Introduction”, in Aristotle, edited by F. G. Kenyon, ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ [ATHĒNAIŌN POLITEIA]: Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, 3rd rev. edition, Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press, →OCLC; republished Clark, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 2004, →ISBN, page xlviii:
mine (obtain stone by extraction) · dig up (extract by searching) · dig (extract by searching) · unearth (extract by searching)
Translations (10)
mi tākongakonga (obtain stone by extraction from a quarry) · fi louhia (extract by long, tedious searching) · mi kerikeri kōwhatu (obtain stone by extraction from a quarry) · ga cairéalaigh (obtain stone by extraction from a quarry) · bg изравям (extract by long, tedious searching) · nl uitspitten (extract by long, tedious searching) · fa استخراج (obtain stone by extraction from a quarry) · nl steenhouwen (obtain stone by extraction from a quarry) · de ausgraben (extract by long, tedious searching) · sv bryta (obtain stone by extraction from a quarry)
From Middle English quyrre, querre, quirre, from Anglo-Norman quiree (“entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to dogs of the chase as a reward”) (influenced by cuir (“skin (of an animal)”), from Latin corium (“a hide”)), from coree (“entrails, viscera”), from Vulgar Latin corata (“entrails”), from Latin cor (“heart”).
Meanings
(obsolete, uncountable) A part of the entrails of a hunted animal, given to the hounds as a reward.
Quarry, among hunters, is ſometimes uſed for part of the viſcera of the beaſt taken; given by way of reward to the hounds. [1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “Quarry”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, volumes II (I–Z), London: […] James and John Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page 936, column 2:
(uncountable) An animal, often a bird or mammal, which is hunted.
Professional hunters and trackers die too, in the pursuit of dangerous animals every year. Stones and his client voice reverence for what they call “fair chase”: an ethical distinction observed in certain sporting circles in which the quarry is felt to have a sporting chance of survival. 2026 April 21, Cal Flyn, “On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife”, in The Guardian:
Nofi Raranta, 37, the town's main clove dealer, is also the top hunter, employing about a hundred men who comb the surrounding forests for quarry. 2017 March, Jennifer S. Holland, “For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival”, in National Geographic, archived from the original on 03 May 2017:
Is it not our very Caſe now, that when our Souls, Good-Names, Bodies and Fortunes are at Stake, we muſt be running out at Check, after every Crow, Buzzard, or Jack-daw that comes in the way, and leave the main Chance at laſt at Six and Seven? Nay, and here's this more in't too, that the Quarry would not be worth the taking up neither, if we could Catch it; beſide, that it flies away ſtill before us, and is never to be Overtaken. 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[A Supplement of Fables […].] Fab[le] CCCCLXX. A Farmer and His Servant.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 445:
(countable) An object of search or pursuit.
In a verſe, when a worde of three ſillables cannot thruſt in but ſidelings, to joynt him even, we are oftentimes faine to borrowe ſome leſſer quarry of elocution from the Latine, alwaies retaining this for a principle, that a leake of indeſinence , as a leake in a ſhip, muſt needly be ſtopt with what matter ſoever. 1592, Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Foure Letters Confuted”, in Strange Newes, of the Intercepting Certaine Letters and a Convoy of Verses, […], London: […] Iohn Danter, […], →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] Payne Collier, editor, Illustrations of Early English Literature (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), volume II, London: Privately printed, [1867], →OCLC, page 73:
A US State Department website advertised a reward of up to $1m (£500,000) for the capture of its quarry [Abdul Hadi al Iraqi], who was described as 5ft 11in (180cm) tall, with a pale complexion, "a moustache and a long, heavy beard that is starting to grey". 2007 April 27, “US holds ‘senior al-Qaeda figure’”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2016:
Meanwhile his Ladie, which this outrage ſaw, / Whileſt they together for the quarrey ſtroue, / Into the couert did her ſelfe withdrw, / And cloſely hid her ſelfe within the groue. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 20, page 375:
pdt Wiltfank (animal which is hunted) · ka დავლა (animal which is hunted) · gd creach (object of search or pursuit) · la praeda (animal which is hunted) · gd creach (animal which is hunted) · nl prooidier (animal which is hunted) · it preda (object of search or pursuit) · grc ἄγρα (animal which is hunted) · de Beute (animal which is hunted) · gl presa (animal which is hunted) · es presa (animal which is hunted) · et uluk (animal which is hunted) · et saak (object of search or pursuit) · cs kořist (animal which is hunted) · nl doelwit (object of search or pursuit) · es objetivo (object of search or pursuit) · ru дичь (animal which is hunted) · et leid (object of search or pursuit) · pt presa (animal which is hunted) · ca presa (animal which is hunted) · ru добыча (object of search or pursuit) · et jahiloom (animal which is hunted) · pl zwierzyna (animal which is hunted) · fr proie (animal which is hunted) · ru добы́ча (animal which is hunted) · fi saaliseläin (animal which is hunted) · ka ნადავლი (animal which is hunted) · grc θήραμα (animal which is hunted) · tr av hayvanı (animal which is hunted) · bg дивеч (animal which is hunted) · bg цел (object of search or pursuit) · it preda (animal which is hunted) · mk плен (animal which is hunted) · ro vânat (animal which is hunted) · nl prooi (animal which is hunted) · fi riistaeläin (animal which is hunted) · nl prooi (object of search or pursuit) · mk ди́веч (animal which is hunted) · tr av (object of search or pursuit)
From Middle English quyrre, querre, quirre, from Anglo-Norman quiree (“entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to dogs of the chase as a reward”) (influenced by cuir (“skin (of an animal)”), from Latin corium (“a hide”)), from coree (“entrails, viscera”), from Vulgar Latin corata (“entrails”), from Latin cor (“heart”).
Meanings
To secure prey; to prey, as a vulture or harpy.
What's an Eternal Circulation of the ſame Things, as well as the ſame Steps, without Advancing one Inch of Ground towards his Journey's End, but Ixion in the Wheel? And all this while, with Cares, and Horrors at his Heart, like the Vultur that's Day and Night Quarrying upon Prometheus's Liver. 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] VI. A Dog and a Shadow.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 6:
Alteration of quarrel (“diamond-shaped piece of coloured glass forming part of a stained glass window; square tile”).
Meanings
A diamond-shaped tile or pane, often of glass or stone.
The boyes playing at ſtooleball, by chaunce broke a quarry of the glaſſe, whereupon he complayned to the Towneſhip, and either had, or did his utmoſt to haue the poor boy whipt, […] 1615, Anthony Nixon, The Scovrge of Corruption. Or A Crafty Knave Needs No Broker, London: Printed at London, for Henry Gosson, and William Houlmes, and are to be sold at his shop in Popes-head Pallace, →OCLC, page 20:
A window towards the eaſt (whoſe fractured quarries proclaimed the ravages of time) admitted a dim, ſhadowy light, over the whole manſion. 1767 April, “a pen” [pseudonym], “The Adventures of a Pen”, in William Phorson, editor, The Berwick Museum, or, Monthly Literary Intelligencer. Being a View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the Times. Forming an Universal Repository of Amusement and Instruction, volume III, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberlnd: Printed by W. Phorson, →OCLC, page 155: