plural quarries
plural quarries
1
: an open excavation usually for obtaining building stone, slate, or limestone
2
: a rich source
quarried; quarrying
1
: to dig or take from or as if from a quarry
quarry marble
2
: to make a quarry in
quarry a hill
: to delve in or as if in a quarry
Synonyms
Examples of quarry in a Sentence
Verb
an area where workers are quarrying for limestone
Recent Examples on the Web
Vic Chiang, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
Some stops include the granite quarry and house in which Griffith grew up, where visitors can actually spend the night.
—Trudy Haywood Saunders, Travel + Leisure, 26 Mar. 2024
Built within a stone quarry, the centuries-old hideaway is where author Giuseppe Guin famously penned his novels (hence the name).
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 13 Mar. 2024
Quarry Trails Via Ferrata, Ohio The Quarry Trails Via Ferrata snakes in every direction across the sheer face of a former limestone quarry in Columbus, Ohio.
—Shoshi Parks, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Feb. 2024
In the 1600s, when dogs were used in pack hunts of large quarry (bears, boars, stags, etc.), the canines would wear spiked iron collars for protection.
—Alicia Wallace, CNN, 24 Feb. 2024
Also, in the case of a quarry, the precision of autonomy enables lane widths to be reduced for the road spiraling down to the bottom of the quarry pit.
—Richard Bishop, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024
Six tents sit along the side of Seaport Boulevard in Redwood City, tucked between rock quarries and a refinery.
—Ryan MacAsero, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2024
The difference is that this roiling of the elements is choreographed by humans taking ownership of the environment, rather like the fir trees felled in woodland adjacent to the quarry.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 19 Feb. 2024
Dan Falk, Discover Magazine, 6 Apr. 2024
Curious investigators have speculated for more than two centuries about how more than 900 of these mysterious statues—the largest being more than 30 feet tall and weighing over 80 tons—might have been moved to locations around the island, traveling miles from the site where they were quarried.
—Daniel Lewis, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2024
In 1968, finally quarrying came to an end when Morro Rock was declared a California Historical Landmark.
—Jerry Rice, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
Starting in 1889, some 1 million tons of rock was quarried to help create a breakwater that led to the harbor.
—Jerry Rice, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
Each honeycomb is framed with light-gray Woodbury granite from Vermont, and filling each frame is a slab of white, gray-veined marble, one-and-one-quarter-inch thick, quarried in Danby, not far from my home in Vermont.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 8 Feb. 2024
By some estimates, producing concrete releases nearly a pound of CO2 per pound of usable material; under the right conditions, stone for a wall can be gathered on-site or quarried nearby.
—Hannah Kirshner, The Atlantic, 6 Dec. 2023
Then, workers would have quarried the ditch around the statue later to complete the sphinx's body.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 14 Nov. 2023
Jade dust in the hair of those who quarry rough slabs of jade
is not the definition of plenty.
—Alice Gribbin, The New York Review of Books, 2 Nov. 2023
Noun
Rescue helicopters pulled six people out of a quarry in Xiulin Township at 6 a.m. local time.
—Vic Chiang, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
Some stops include the granite quarry and house in which Griffith grew up, where visitors can actually spend the night.
—Trudy Haywood Saunders, Travel + Leisure, 26 Mar. 2024
Built within a stone quarry, the centuries-old hideaway is where author Giuseppe Guin famously penned his novels (hence the name).
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 13 Mar. 2024
Quarry Trails Via Ferrata, Ohio The Quarry Trails Via Ferrata snakes in every direction across the sheer face of a former limestone quarry in Columbus, Ohio.
—Shoshi Parks, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Feb. 2024
In the 1600s, when dogs were used in pack hunts of large quarry (bears, boars, stags, etc.), the canines would wear spiked iron collars for protection.
—Alicia Wallace, CNN, 24 Feb. 2024
Also, in the case of a quarry, the precision of autonomy enables lane widths to be reduced for the road spiraling down to the bottom of the quarry pit.
—Richard Bishop, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024
Six tents sit along the side of Seaport Boulevard in Redwood City, tucked between rock quarries and a refinery.
—Ryan MacAsero, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2024
The difference is that this roiling of the elements is choreographed by humans taking ownership of the environment, rather like the fir trees felled in woodland adjacent to the quarry.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 19 Feb. 2024
Verb
Unlike Stonehenge, where many of the stones were quarried more than 100 miles away, the stones at Calanais are local gneiss, an ancient metamorphic rock that forms the backbone of the Hebrides.
—Dan Falk, Discover Magazine, 6 Apr. 2024
Curious investigators have speculated for more than two centuries about how more than 900 of these mysterious statues—the largest being more than 30 feet tall and weighing over 80 tons—might have been moved to locations around the island, traveling miles from the site where they were quarried.
—Daniel Lewis, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Mar. 2024
In 1968, finally quarrying came to an end when Morro Rock was declared a California Historical Landmark.
—Jerry Rice, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
Starting in 1889, some 1 million tons of rock was quarried to help create a breakwater that led to the harbor.
—Jerry Rice, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
Each honeycomb is framed with light-gray Woodbury granite from Vermont, and filling each frame is a slab of white, gray-veined marble, one-and-one-quarter-inch thick, quarried in Danby, not far from my home in Vermont.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 8 Feb. 2024
By some estimates, producing concrete releases nearly a pound of CO2 per pound of usable material; under the right conditions, stone for a wall can be gathered on-site or quarried nearby.
—Hannah Kirshner, The Atlantic, 6 Dec. 2023
Then, workers would have quarried the ditch around the statue later to complete the sphinx's body.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 14 Nov. 2023
Jade dust in the hair of those who quarry rough slabs of jade
is not the definition of plenty.
—Alice Gribbin, The New York Review of Books, 2 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quarry.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near quarry
Cite this Entry
“Quarry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quarry. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
quarry
1 of 3 noun
quar·ry
ˈkwȯr-ē 
ˈkwär-
plural quarries
1
: an animal hunted as game or prey
2
: something sought or chased after
quarry
2 of 3 noun
plural quarries
: an open pit usually for obtaining building stone, slate, or limestone
quarry
3 of 3 verb
quarried; quarrying
1
: to dig or take from or as if from a quarry
2
: to make a quarry in
quarrier
noun
Etymology
Noun
Middle English querre "the part of a game animal given to the hounds," from early French cureie, quereie (same meaning), from cuir "skin, hide" (on which the animal parts were placed), from Latin corium (same meaning)
Noun
Middle English quarey, an altered form of quarrere "a place for digging stones for use in building," from Latin quadrus "hewn stone," literally, "squared stone," from Latin quadrum "a square"
Word Origin
The quarry a hunter chases is not related to the quarry that supplies building stones. The word for a hunter's quarry can be traced back to a ceremony that was once part of every successful hunt. The hounds used for chasing the game were rewarded after the kill by being allowed to eat part of the dead animal, which was given to them on a piece of hide. The French word for this hounds' share was cureie or quereie, which was borrowed into Middle English as querre. The word later came to be used for the live game animal itself. Now a quarry is anything that is pursued.
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