Make Your Point > Archived Issues > QUARRY
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pronounce
QUARRY:
Say it "KWORE ee." It rhymes with "story."
To hear it, click here.
Or, if you prefer, say it "KWARE ee." That way rhymes with "starry."
connect this word to others:
Today we're checking out the word quarry, which can mean both "a thing you're chasing after" and "a place full of valuable stuff."
Often, when we meet a word with two distinct meanings like this, we find that one meaning grew from the other, like mother and daughter.
Not the case with quarry, though. Our two quarries are identical strangers: two separate words from two separate families.
That first quarry, "a thing you're chasing after," belongs to a family of words about hearts: literal and figurative hearts. That family includes core, courage, cordial, cardiac, accord, and d____cor_ (another word for "disagreement," or literally, "not being of one heart").
And that second quarry, "a place full of valuable stuff," might belong to a family of words about squares and the number four. That family includes quarter, quadrant, quadruple, square, and f___squ___ (a word meaning "firm, strong, steady, and unwavering, as if forming a perfect square").
Can you recall those two words with the blanks?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Let's take a look at both kinds of quarries.
The first "quarry" came into English through French, ultimately from the Latin cor, meaning "heart."
The meaning morphed from "heart" to "entrails" to "the body of an animal that was hunted" to "the thing you're hunting."
And so today, your quarry is the thing you're after. It can be, very literally, the animal you're hunting. Or, figuratively, it can be the thing you're trying to get, as if it's an animal you're hunting.
Let's visualize that, with thanks to Wikipedia: the hunters are on the left, and their quarry (the deer) is on the right.
Coincidentally, we have a second English "quarry" with a totally separate origin. This other "quarry" means "a place where you excavate rocks." Here's that kind of quarry, with thanks again to Wikipedia:
The origins of this "quarry" are unclear, but it might trace back to a Latin word meaning "a place where stones are squared" (that is, chiseled into nice neat shapes), and so it might be related to other words about squares, like "quadrant" and "quadruple."
Anyway, this kind of literal quarry is a wealth of rocks to be dug out and used. So, figuratively, a quarry can also be any rich source of material.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Often a noun: "He's looking for his quarry;" "It happened near the quarry."
Also sometimes a verb, meaning "to dig out:" "We quarried these stones from over there;" "Maybe we can quarry the information we need from these books."
Other common forms:
Quarries, quarried, quarrying.
how to use it:
Pick "quarry" when you need a simple, earthy, old-fashioned metaphor.
Whether you're using it in its hunting sense or its rock-digging sense, you're suggesting that someone is both eager and effortful in their pursuit of something.
You might talk about people seeking, chasing, or hunting for their quarry. "He's hunting around in the antiques stores today. His quarry: vintage silverware."
Or, you might refer to some place, resource, or situation as a quarry--again, with the implication that although it's full of great stuff, you really have to work to dig it out. "Gutenberg.org is a quarry for bookworms."
examples:
Here's "quarry" meaning "a thing being hunted:"
"Sometimes [the eagles'] reach exceeds their grasp; as they flap and soar away from the chaos of the open garbage pit, their quarry slips through their talons."
— David Gutman, Seattle Times, 18 February 2020
"The gowns were sewn by Jan Durham, a quilter and self-described 'fabric hoarder' who searches for her quarry at thrift stores and estate sales."
— Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times, 6 May 2020
And here's "quarry" meaning "a place rich with material:"
"It was from Greece that we received our Christianity--it was Greece, still, as of old, the imaginative, the enthusiastic, that supplied Europe with her new mythology--with the whole quarry of legends, ceremonies and superstitions..."
— Alexander William C. Lindsay, Sketches of the History of Christian Art, Volume 1, 1847
has this page helped you understand "quarry"?
study it:
Explain both meanings of "quarry" without saying "prey" or "trove."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone or something) collects their quarries (in a certain way)."
Example 1: "I wanted only the tiniest, brightest pink and purple seashells; I collected my quarries in a plastic bucket, scraping through the damp sand with salty, wrinkled fingertips."
Example 2: "The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) has spent the past 8.5 years collecting charged cosmic rays that move through space at nearly the speed of light. Unlike particle detectors on Earth, AMS is not attached to an accelerator but instead studies its quarries as they exist in the vacuum of space, unadulterated by interactions with our planet’s atmosphere."
— Irene Klotz, Scientific American, 11 December 2019
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is "Polygon of Predestination!"
With a high five to TheWordFinder.com for its puzzle generator, I'm Pat-Sajacking that spin-the-wheel game from TV. Apply your alliterative acumen to solve the puzzle. The category all month long is: "Beastly Blunders and Criminal Capers."
From the previous issue:
This phrase dates back to at least the Civil War: "I am ready to take the State [South Carolina] out of the Union. I am ready to go now and forever, and to go at once, and to burn the bridges behind us." Things have been awkward between us and South Carolina ever since.
Try this one today:
Not sure yet? Need to see a bit more? Click here.
review this word:
1. Some opposites of QUARRY include
A. NIGHTMARE and PRISON.
B. ANSWER and FULFILLMENT.
C. PREDATOR and WASTELAND.
2. In Scotland, as the BBC reports, Greylag geese are a "quarry species," _____.
A. freely hunted
B. not endangered, but vulnerable
C. as hard to photograph as Nessie herself
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Say it "KWORE ee." It rhymes with "story."
Today we're checking out the word quarry, which can mean both "a thing you're chasing after" and "a place full of valuable stuff."
Let's take a look at both kinds of quarries.
Part of speech:
Pick "quarry" when you need a simple, earthy, old-fashioned metaphor.
Here's "quarry" meaning "a thing being hunted:"
Explain both meanings of "quarry" without saying "prey" or "trove."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone or something) collects their quarries (in a certain way)."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
1. Some opposites of QUARRY include
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