quarry

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large open pit where stone, slate, or sand is dug out of the ground.

   The marble for the statue came from a quarry in Italy.

2. 2
   noun

   An animal or person being hunted or pursued.

   The fox finally escaped the hounds that had been chasing their quarry all day.

3. 3
   verb

   To dig stone or other materials out of a quarry.

   For centuries, workers quarried limestone from these hills.

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”).

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