quarry KWOR-ee noun verb WS #34

an excavation or pit, usually open to the air, from which building stone, slate, or the like, is obtained by cutting, blasting, etc.; an animal pursued by a hunter, hound, predatory mammal, or bird of prey; a person or thing that is hunted or pursued

1. The hunter tracked his quarry through the dense forest, following fresh deer tracks in the mud.
2. The investigative journalist made the corrupt politician her quarry, pursuing the story for months.
3. The eagle circled overhead, searching for quarry among the small animals below.
4. The limestone quarry provided building materials for the cathedral construction project that lasted decades.
5. Workers at the marble quarry used heavy machinery to extract massive blocks of stone.

to obtain (stone) from or as if from a quarry; to hunt or pursue relentlessly; to search through or extract information from

1. Detectives quarried through thousands of documents to find evidence of financial fraud.
2. She quarried information from multiple sources to write her comprehensive research paper.
3. The archaeologists quarried ancient pottery shards from the excavation site with great care.
4. The miners quarried deep into the earth to extract valuable minerals and precious metals.
5. The company plans to quarry granite from the mountainside to supply the construction industry.