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quarrying

quarrying

1 7.2
Taking stone or rock out of the ground at an open pit for building
  • noun
  • /ˈkwɔriɪŋ/
translation icon : explotación de canteras
  • Rock quarrying is a traditional industry in this region (Aminti, Cipriani, and Pranzini 2003), and marble is part of the heritage of this area of Tuscany.

Rough stone balls, a very hard stone which dropped repeatedly, wear away the stone to do the major quarrying.

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Examples

  • The quarrying of granite provides essential materials for local construction projects.

  • Because of nearby quarrying, the full extent of the complex isn't clear.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Although labor-intensive, quarrying is not an incredible engineering feat.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Beecher, whose name was given to the bed yielding the fossils, carried out a massive quarrying operation.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Quarrying was a somewhat tedious business, in which suitable boulders were located and separated into proper fragments by fire and water.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Theodore has lectured us about the declining Cornish economy, the debilitating downturn in fishing, tin mining, and granite quarrying.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The Yapese's quarrying and moving of such immense stones was clearly an enormous feat, and one that will help us understand the fascination ancient Pacific Islanders had with carving and moving megaliths across both land and sea.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Many towns rely on quarrying to supply stone for buildings and roads.

  • After years of quarrying, the landscape transformed into a series of deep pits and cliffs.

How Extensive

strip mining
  • Specialized
2 5.3
mining
191 2.7
quarrying
1 7.2
digging
83 1.0

Surface Forms

quarrying singular
quarryings plural

Morphology

quarrying = quarry (transparent) = quarry + ing

The noun is a regular gerund/nominalization of the verb 'quarry' meaning 'to extract', so its meaning as the process of extracting stone is directly derived.

Etymology

Quarrying is easiest to remember from the word quarry, a place where people 'dig out stone' for building; the name is linked to the idea of shaping 'square' blocks, like the same root as square, so quarrying is the work of taking stone from an open pit for use in construction.