quarry

Wikipedia

English

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -ɒri

Etymology 1

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

Noun

Wikipedia quarry (plural quarries)

1. A site for mining stone, limestone or slate.

   Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara

Translations

site for mining stone

Czech: kamenolom (cs) m. Danish: stenbrud (da) Dutch: steengroeve (nl) Finnish: louhos (fi) French: carrière (fr) f. German: Steinbruch (de) m. Italian: cava di pietra Polish: kamieniołom (pl) m.

Portuguese: pedreira f. Romanian: carieră f. Russian: каменоломня (ru) (kamenolómnja) f. Serbian: kamenolom (sr) Spanish: cantera (es) f. Swedish: stenbrott (sv) Welsh: cloddfa (cy) f.

Verb

quarry (third-person singular simple present quarries, present participle quarrying, simple past and past participle quarried)

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)

Translations

obtain stone by extraction from a quarry

Dutch: steenhouwen

extract by long, tedious searching

Dutch: uitspitten Finnish: louhia (fi)

German: ausgraben (de)

Etymology 2

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

quarry (plural quarries)

1. An animal which is hunted, notably mammal or bird.
2. 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

Translations

animal which is hunted

Catalan: presa (ca) f. Dutch: prooi (nl) m. and f., prooidier (nl) n. French: proie (fr) f. German: Beute (de) f. Italian: preda (it) f.

Latin: praeda (la) f. Portuguese: presa (pt) f. Romanian: vânat n. Russian: дичь (ru) f., добыча (ru) f. Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f.

object of search or pursuit

Dutch: prooi (nl) m. and f., doelwit (nl) n.

Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f.

Etymology 3

An alteration of quarrel

Noun

quarry (plural quarries)

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

References

• “quarry” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001