quarry

Plural: quarries

Noun

a person who is the aim of an attack (especially a victim of ridicule or exploitation) by some hostile person or influence
a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate
- "a British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'"
animal hunted or caught for food
A site for mining stone, limestone, or slate.
A part of the entrails of a hunted animal, given to the hounds as a reward.
An animal, often a bird or mammal, which is hunted.
An object of search or pursuit.
A diamond-shaped tile or pane, often of glass or stone.

Verb

Verb Forms: quarried, quarrying, quarries

To extract stone or other material from an excavation site.
extract (something such as stones) from or as if from a quarry
- "quarry marble"
To obtain (or mine) stone by extraction from a quarry.
To extract or slowly obtain by long, tedious searching.
To secure prey; to prey, as a vulture or harpy.

Examples

He had to QUARRY deep into his vocabulary to find a seven-letter word starting with ’Q’.
Michelangelo personally quarried marble from the world-famous quarry at Carrara.
They quarried out new, interesting facts about ancient Egypt from old papyri.

Origin / 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 (“I square”), itself from quadra (“a square”), from quattuor (“four”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”).

Synonyms

fair game, pit, prey, stone pit, target, delf, dig, dig up, mark, mine, unearth

Scrabble Score: 18

quarry: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
quarry: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
quarry: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 18

quarry: valid Words With Friends Word