different between excavation vs quarry

English

Etymology

From Latin excav?ti? (“a hollowing out”), from excav? (“I hollow out”), from ex + cav? (“I hollow out”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *keu- (“vault, hole”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

excavation (countable and uncountable, plural excavations)

1. (uncountable) The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
2. (countable) A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping.
3. (countable) An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel.
4. (countable) The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.
5. (uncountable) Archaeological research that unearths buildings, tombs and objects of historical value.
6. (countable) A site where an archaeological exploration is being carried out.

Translations

French

Pronunciation

Noun

excavation f (plural excavations)

1. excavation

Further reading

• “excavation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• currie, curry (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kw??i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k(w)??i/
• Rhymes: -??i
• Hyphenation: quar?ry

Etymology 1

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 quadr? (“I square”), itself from quadra (“a square”), from quattuor (“four”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *k?etwóres (“four”).

Noun

quarry (plural quarries)

1. (mining) A site for mining stone, limestone, or slate.

Synonyms

• delf

Derived terms

Translations

Descendants

• Irish: cairéal m
• Welsh: chwarel m

Verb

quarry (third-person singular simple present quarries, present participle quarrying, simple past and past participle quarried)

1. (transitive) To obtain (or mine) stone by extraction from a quarry.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To extract or slowly obtain by long, tedious searching.

Synonyms

• (obtain stone by extraction): mine
• (extract by searching): dig, dig up, unearth

Derived terms

• quarrying (noun)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English quyrrey, querre, curee, quirre, from Anglo-Norman quirreie, from Old French cuiriee (“entrails of deer placed on the hide and given to dogs of the chase as a reward”) (influenced by cuir (“skin (of an animal)”), from Latin corium (“a hide”)), from coree (“entrails, viscera”), from Vulgar Latin corata (“entrails”), from Latin cor (“heart”).

Noun

quarry (countable and uncountable, plural quarries)

1. (uncountable, obsolete) A part of the entrails of a hunted animal, given to the hounds as a reward.
2. (uncountable) An animal, often a bird or mammal, which is hunted.
3. (countable) An object of search or pursuit.

Synonyms

• mark
• prey
• target

Translations

Verb

quarry (third-person singular simple present quarries, present participle quarrying, simple past and past participle quarried)

1. To secure prey; to prey, as a vulture or harpy.

Etymology 3

Alteration of quarrel (“diamond-shaped piece of coloured glass forming part of a stained glass window; square tile”).

Noun

quarry (plural quarries)

1. A diamond-shaped tile or pane, often of glass or stone.

Derived terms

• quarry light
• quarry tile

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “quarry”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Further reading

• quarry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• quarry (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia