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quarry

Etymology and origin of the English word quarry

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkwɒɹ.i/ (UK); /ˈk(w)ɔɹ.i/ (US)[1]

Etymology

Quarry “prey” is inherited from Middle English quirre, querre,[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman quirreie, from Old French cuiriee,[2][3][4] altered under the influence of cuir “hide” from coree “entrails”,[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *corāta, from Latin cor (“heart”).[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster and Random House derive it directly from cuir.[5][6] Quarry “stone pit” is inherited from Middle English quarey, borrowed from Medieval Latin quareia, from quareria,[2][3][4][6] from Old French quarriere, from Latin quadrum (“a square”), literally a place where stones are squared.[2][3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Parts of a deer's entrails placed on the hide and given to the hounds as a reward (c. 1320).[7][3][4] The stone pit is recorded as a place name in 1266, and as a word before 1382.[3]

Semantic evolution

The hunting word came to mean the bird flown at or killed by a hawk (1486),[7][4] then the beast pursued by hounds or hunters (1612),[7][4] and figuratively any object of pursuit (1615).[7][3] The stone pit word gave the figurative sense “a rich source” and, in 1774, a verb, “to obtain stone from a quarry”,[7][3][4][5] later “to extract by laborious searching” (1860).[7]

Timeline

  • 1266 – the stone pit, as a place name.[3]
  • c. 1320 – the hounds' share of a deer.[7][4]
  • before 1382 – a stone pit.[3]
  • 1486 – the bird killed by a hawk.[7][4]
  • 1612 – the animal hunted.[7]
  • 1615 – any object of pursuit.[7][3]
  • 1774 – verb, to dig from a quarry.[7][3][4][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An animal or bird that is hunted; prey or game.
  2. Any object of pursuit or search.
  3. An open pit from which stone, slate or similar material is taken by cutting, digging or blasting.
  4. A rich or productive source.
  5. A diamond-shaped pane of glass or a square tile.

Verb

  1. To obtain (stone) from a quarry; to make a quarry in.
  2. To extract (facts, for example) by long and careful searching.

Word family

  • quarrier
  • quarryman
  • quarry tile

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Quarry.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/quarry. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·