quarry [ME] The quarry that yields stone comes ultimately from Latin quadrum ‘a square’. This is based on the idea that a quarry is a place where stones are squared, or cut into regular shapes, to make them ready for use in building. The other quarry, ‘a pursued animal’, is from Old French cuiree and based on Latin cor ‘heart’ (see cordial). In medieval deer-hunting the term referred to the deer’s entrails, which were placed on the hide and given as a reward to the hounds. It could also be used to refer to a heap of deer carcasses piled up after a hunt, and so to a pile of dead bodies [L16th].