I. ˈkwȯrē, -wär-, -ri noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English querre, quirre part of the entrails of a beast taken in hunting that is given to the hounds especially by being placed on the beast's skin for them to eat, from Middle French cuiree, from Old French, probably alteration (influenced by cuir leather, skin, from Latin corium ) of coree breast viscera, entrails, from Late Latin corata (plural), from Latin cor heart — more at heart , cuirass
1. obsolete
a. : a part of the entrails of a beast taken in hunting that is given to the hounds ; also : a similar reward to a hawk that has killed a bird
b. : a heap of the game killed
2. obsolete : a heap of dead bodies (as on a battlefield)
3.
a. : a game bird hunted with hawks
b. : the prey of any predatory bird or animal
c. : an animal, bird, or fish sought by a hunter or fisherman : the object of the chase : game
4. : an object pursued or hunted
city detectives kept the quarry under surveillance for weeks
thinks of a woman as a quarry — Guy Fowler
5. obsolete : a falcon's attack or swoop on its prey
Synonyms: see victim
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to teach (a hawk) to seize quarry
2. archaic : to hunt down (a game animal)
intransitive verb
obsolete : to seize quarry — used with on or upon
III. “, chiefly dial -wer- or -war- noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English quarey, alteration of quarere, quarrere, from Middle French quarrere, quarriere, from Old French, from (assumed) Old French quarre squared stone (akin to Old Provençal cayre squared stone), from Latin quadrum square — more at quarrel (arrow)
1. : an open excavation usually for obtaining building stone, slate, or limestone — compare bank I, mine , pit IV
2. : a source from which material may be extracted : lode
other dramatists also found his books a workable quarry — Times Literary Supplement
3. : a large mass (as of stone or slate) fit for quarrying
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
1. : to dig or take from or as if from a quarry
had quarried limestone there for decades
I have from time to time quarried out bits from the history of a special science to assist my exposition — J.B.Conant
2. : to make a quarry in
quarried the land industriously
3. : to remove fragments of rock by impact (as in stream erosion) or by pressure and dragging (as in glacial erosion) : pluck
intransitive verb
: to delve in or as if in a quarry
never has to quarry to fill even the largest or most unusual order — American Guide Series: Vermont
V. ˈkwȯr-, ˈkwär- noun
( -es )
Etymology: alteration of quarrel (I)
1. obsolete : a square-headed bolt or arrow
2.
a. : a diamond-shaped pane of glass : lozenge
b. : quarry tile
stood barefoot in front of him on the cold quarries — Mary Webb
c. : any of the four-sided units in a simple allover decorative pattern formed by two sets of straight lines intersecting at regular intervals ; also : this pattern
VI. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: to glaze or pave with quarries