This week’s theme
Reborrowed words

This week’s words
craic
anime
turquoise
quarry
cosplay


Word in the News
TSA: No flying with a shillelagh.
(CNN)

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KWOR-ee)

MEANING:

noun:	1. A large, deep pit from which material such as slate, stone, etc. are extracted.
	2. A rich source.
	3. Something or someone hunted or chased.
	4. A square or diamond-shaped stone, tile, glass pane, etc.
verb tr.:	To dig, cut into, or extract.

ETYMOLOGY:

For noun 3: From Old French cuiree, from cuir (leather or hide, on which entrails were placed as a reward to the hounds), from Latin corium (leather). Earliest documented use: 1330.
For noun 4: A variant of quarrel (a square-headed bolt or arrow, diamond-shaped tile or window-pane), from Latin quadrum (square). Earliest documented use: 1537.
For everything else: From Latin quareia/quareria, from Old French quarriere, from Latin quadraria (where stone is squared), from quadrare (to square), from quadrum (square). Earliest documented use: 1382.

USAGE:

“Gems abound in the sparkling sky of the winter Milky Way. Obvious treasures like the Orion Nebula, the Crab Nebula, and the Pleiades are no doubt favorites. But all manner of intriguing and lesser-known quarries lie scattered, awaiting your attention and a dark, moonless sky.”
David J Eicher; Wintertime Delights; Astronomy (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Feb 2022.

“Thirty seconds later, and right on cue, my quarry appeared and walked off down the road with his small backpack slung over one shoulder, we set off in pursuit.”
IvanB; Bitter; BookBaby; 2013.

See more usage examples of quarry in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: