Emily Dickinson Lexicon

QUAR'RY, n. [Fr. carrière, formerly Norm. quarrier. I know not whether the original sense of this word was a pit or mine, from digging, or whether the sense was a place for squaring stone. The Fr. carriere signifies not only a quarry, but a career, course, race, from the L. curro, which can not be from squaring. If the sense was a pit, it may be referred to the Heb. Ch. and Eth. כרה, to dig; Ar. كَرَا kara or kwara, to dig, to run violently, to leap. If the sense is from squaring, see Square. See Class Gr, No. 35, 36, 52, 57, 63.]

1. A place, cavern or pit where stones are dug from the earth, or separated from a large mass of rocks. We generally apply the word mine to the pit from which are taken metals and coals; from quarries are taken stones for building, as marble, freestone, slate, &c.
2. In Paris, the quarries are a vast cavern under the city, several miles in extent.