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
Noun (1)
a hunter relentlessly tracking his quarry
Verb
an area where workers are quarrying for limestone
Recent Examples on the Web
TIME, 14 May 2024
Carolina Bronze Sculpture, a foundry located in Seagrove, cast the statue in bronze, and a quarry in Rowan County provided the Salisbury granite for the base.
—Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 12 May 2024
Eventually, workers near the quarry reported hearing the barking again while on their lunch break, Burr wrote, and called Animal Control to retrieve the animal.
—Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 11 May 2024
Officials have been working to increase surveillance efforts, and ask hunters to have their quarry tested at one of several sampling stations.
—Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2024
Over time, these ancient bodies of water gave rise to the Crato and Romualdo Formations, limestone deposits in the Araripe Basin where quarries now dig for raw material to make cement.
—Michael Greshko, New York Times, 9 May 2024
In his Queens home, a $5,000 Sevres vase perched on a flawless block of pink marble that came from an Italian quarry and now sat across the room from furniture hand-hewn from Germany’s Black Forest.
—Larry Tye, Fortune, 4 May 2024
Four of them were hiking in Taroko Gorge, four died on mountainous highways, and another was working at a remote quarry, according to authorities.
—Wayne Chang, CNN, 6 Apr. 2024
In the first 24 hours after the quake, rescuers freed hundreds of people who were trapped in cars in between rockfalls on the highway and stranded on mountain ledges in rock quarries.
—Siyi Zhao Lam Yik Fei, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2024
However, quarrying in the 20th century destroyed any other remains.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 20 Mar. 2024
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
Noun
What’s more, there’s no gaping quarry, pit tunnels, diggers, noise, dust, or choking diesel emissions.
—TIME, 14 May 2024
Carolina Bronze Sculpture, a foundry located in Seagrove, cast the statue in bronze, and a quarry in Rowan County provided the Salisbury granite for the base.
—Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 12 May 2024
Eventually, workers near the quarry reported hearing the barking again while on their lunch break, Burr wrote, and called Animal Control to retrieve the animal.
—Nicholas Rice, Peoplemag, 11 May 2024
Officials have been working to increase surveillance efforts, and ask hunters to have their quarry tested at one of several sampling stations.
—Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2024
Over time, these ancient bodies of water gave rise to the Crato and Romualdo Formations, limestone deposits in the Araripe Basin where quarries now dig for raw material to make cement.
—Michael Greshko, New York Times, 9 May 2024
In his Queens home, a $5,000 Sevres vase perched on a flawless block of pink marble that came from an Italian quarry and now sat across the room from furniture hand-hewn from Germany’s Black Forest.
—Larry Tye, Fortune, 4 May 2024
Four of them were hiking in Taroko Gorge, four died on mountainous highways, and another was working at a remote quarry, according to authorities.
—Wayne Chang, CNN, 6 Apr. 2024
In the first 24 hours after the quake, rescuers freed hundreds of people who were trapped in cars in between rockfalls on the highway and stranded on mountain ledges in rock quarries.
—Siyi Zhao Lam Yik Fei, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Verb
Most of the material will be hauled away in dump trucks, which will make thousands of trips to return the rocks and earth to the original 37-acre pit where material was quarried for dam construction.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2024
However, quarrying in the 20th century destroyed any other remains.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 20 Mar. 2024
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
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 17 May. 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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