Meaning & use
quarry
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Meanings
nouncountable
A large open pit dug into the ground to take out stone, slate, sand or similar material.
Grammar: Countable: a limestone quarry, two quarries.
Patterns
- a quarry for something
- a quarry of something
Granite from the local quarry was used to build the bridge.
Children were warned not to swim in the flooded quarry.
The old slate quarry is now a nature reserve.
nounusually singular
An animal or person that is being hunted or chased.
Grammar: Usually singular and often with possessive: the hunter's quarry.
Patterns
- pursue one's quarry
- the quarry of someone
The fox watched the hounds, aware that it was their quarry.
Detectives closed in on their quarry at the airport.
The eagle swooped on its quarry.
verbtransitive or intransitivetechnical
To cut or dig stone or other material out of the earth from an open pit.
Grammar: Takes an object, or can be used alone: they quarry marble.
Patterns
- quarry something from somewhere
- quarry for something
The company quarries limestone near the river.
Workers have been quarrying here for over a century.
The marble was quarried in northern Italy.
Word forms
| plural | quarries |
|---|---|
| third person singular | quarries |
| past tense | quarried |
| -ing form | quarrying |
Common combinations
- stone quarry
- The town grew around a stone quarry.
- disused quarry
- The disused quarry filled with rainwater.
- stalk its quarry
- The cat stalked its quarry through the long grass.
- elude one's quarry
- The thief once again eluded his quarry's pursuers.
- quarry stone
- They quarry stone from the hillside.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pit
- Pit is a general word for a hole, while a quarry is specifically dug to get stone or similar material.
- prey
- Prey is used mainly for animals hunted for food, whereas quarry fits both hunted animals and people pursued.
- target
- Target is general and may be a goal, while quarry stresses being actively chased.
- game
- Game refers to wild animals hunted for sport or food, not to people.
Word family
- quarries noun
- plural of quarry
- quarrying noun
- the industry of cutting stone from a pit
- quarryman noun
- a person who works in a quarry
- quarrier noun
- an older word for a quarry worker
Commonly confused: quarry or quarrel? quarry or query?
quarry vs quarrel
A quarrel is an angry argument. It sounds similar but has an unrelated meaning and spelling.
quarry vs query
A query is a question, not a pit or a hunted animal.
Practice
In which sentence does quarry mean something hunted?
Choose one answer.
Its quarry means the animal being hunted. The other sentences refer to the open pit from which stone is taken.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “quarry”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.