quarry
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: business
mining
Etymology: 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”).
Inflected forms:
form: quarries
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: currie
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: curry
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: quarries
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: quarrying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: quarried
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: quarried
pos: verb
tags: past
form: currie
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: curry
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A site for mining stone, such as limestone, or slate.
pos: noun
examples: Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara.
Yet theſe are the men cry'd out againſt for ſchiſmaticks and ſectaries; as if, while the Temple of the Lord was building, ſome cutting, ſome ſquaring the marble, others hewing the cedars, there ſhould be a ſort of irrationall men who could not conſider there muſt be many ſchiſms and many diſſections made in the quarry and the timber, ere the houſe of God can be built.
There have been found certain Cements under Earth, that are very ſoft, and yet taken forth into the Sun, harden as hard as Marble: There are alſo ordinary Quarries in Sommerſet-shire, which in the Quarry cut ſoft to any bigneſs, and in the Building prove firm, and hard.
There was a good quarry of limestone on the farm […]
This is itself a cheerless spot, particularly on a rainy day, when, overshadowed by the great massif of rock that towers in the background, and surrounded by the grey and cheerless quarries, it has a depressing character much in contrast with the green verdure encountered on the northern end of this interesting branch line.
gloss: To obtain (or mine) stone by extraction from a quarry.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The incloſing of this country might alſo be effected, were the landlord to quarry the ſtones, and build the walls at his expence, and the tenant to carry the materials, and pay intereſt for the money advanced by the landlord.
The stone of which this town and church was built, is somewhat of the nature of "rotten limestone,"—is quite light in color,—quarries out regularly and easily,—is soft, when first quarried, but becomes hard on exposure to the air.
In Lexington, which was just then establishing itself as the principal town in Kentucky, he found work quarrying stone for a tavern keeper. Once again, the wages were low, and his employer "strove by every means in his power to take advantage of me."
Today the extractive industry utilizes sand and gravel reserves and quarries stone in Wingdale.
gloss: To extract or slowly obtain by long, tedious searching.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: They quarried out new, interesting facts about ancient Egypt from old papyri.
The second part of Aristotle's work requires little description. […] It has been largely quarried by the grammarians and lexicographers of later ages, from whom modern students of Athenian antiquities have derived their information; […]
They will be guided and inspired by such utterance as Parrington's diagnosis of Sinclair Lewis, where he quarries out a vein of his own enduring liberalism.
Derived words: quarriable
quarrier
quarrying
Translations: