Forms: 4–5 quirre, quyrre, 5 kirre, kyrre, whirry, 6 quyrry; 4–5 querrye, querre (also 7), 7 querry; 5 quarre, 6 quarie, 6–7 quarrie, (6–7 -ey), 6– quarry. [a. OF. cuirée, curée, f. cuir (:—L. corium) skin: see sense 1.]
† 1. Certain parts of a deer placed on the hide and given to the hounds as a reward; also, the reward given to a hawk that has killed a bird (see quot. c. 1350). Obs.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 499. Hert, liuer and liȝtes, And blod tille his quirre, Houndes on hyde he diȝtes.
c. 1350. Parl. Three Ages, 233. [The falconer] puttis owte … be maryo [v.r. marow] one his gloue And quotes thaym [the hawks] to the querrye [v.r. whirry] that quelled hym to þe dethe.
c. 1400. Master of Game, Prol. (MS. Digby 182). And after whann the hert is spaied and dede, he vndothe hym, and maketh his kirre and enquirreth or rewardeþ his houndes.
c. 1420. Le Venery de Twety, in Rel. Ant., I. 153. The houndes shal be rewardid with the nekke and with the bewellis,… and thei shal be etyn undir the skyn, and therfore it is clepid the quarre.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F iv. That callid is Iwis The quyrre, a boue the skyn for it etyn is.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 34. How a man should enter his yong houndes to hunte the Harte, and of the quaries and rewardes that he shall giue them.
[1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 188/1. Quarry … is a gift or reward given the Hounds, being some part of the thing hunted.]
† b. To blow the quarry: To sound a horn to call the hounds to the quarry. Obs. rare–1.
c. 1500. Wyl Bucke’s Test. (Copland), 70. I ma no lenger tarry, I must nedis hense go. I here them blowe the quarry.
† 2. A collection or heap made of the deer killed at a hunting. Obs.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1324. & quykly of þe quelled dere a querré þay maked.
c. 1400. Master of Game, xxxv. (MS. Digby 182). Alle þe while that þe huntynge lasteth shulde þe cartes go aboute fro place to place, to brynge deer to þe quirre. Ibid. Þen shulde þe maistre of þe game leede þe kynge to þe querre, and shewe it hym.
c. 1500. Wyl Bucke’s Test. (Copland), 31. He that me helpeth to the quarry bringe I wyll that he haue mi necke, for a shorte repaste.
a. 1500. Hunting of Cheviot, 8, in Child, Ballads, III. 307. To the quyrry then the Perse went, To se the bryttlynge off the deare.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apol., I. E. The carkases of the deade, like a quarrie of Deare at a general hunting, [shall be] hurled vppon a heape.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 206. To relate the manner Were on the Quarry of these murther’d Deere To adde the death of you.
† b. transf. A heap of dead men; a pile of dead bodies. Obs.
1589. R. Robinson, Gold. Mirr. (Chetham Soc.), p. xxiii. Till to the quirry, a number out of count, Were brought to reape the iust reward at last.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 308. All fowly foiled with bloud, and the quarrey of the dead.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VIII. vii. § 50. 410. Then went they in haste to the quarry of the dead, but by no meanes could finde the body of the King.
fig. 1633. Herbert, Temple, Sinner, 30. I finde there quarries of pil’d vanities.
3. a. The bird flown at or killed by a hawk or other bird of prey.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, D ij. Yowre hawke fleeth to the querre.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xi. 43. As when Joue’s … bird from hye Stoupes at a flying heron … The stone dead quarrey falls.
1695. Congreve, Love for L., V. ii. Hooded like a hawk, to sieze at first sight upon the quarry.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), II. xxv. 166. Wrens and sparrows are not too ignoble a quarry for this villanous gos-hawk.
1855. H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol. (1872), I. III. viii. 352. A falcon swooping on its quarry.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, II. v. 84. There wheels a vulture seeking other quarry.
b. The animal pursued or taken by hounds or hunters (see also quot. 1867).
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., XIII. 215. No beast shall prove thy Quarries heere, Save those the best of chase.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., Disc. Occas. Med. (1848), 22. One [Rabbit] sets him a running, and another proves his Quarry.
1695. Temple, Hist. Eng. (1699), 180. The Game, which it was their Interest to preserve, both for their Sport and the Quarry.
1808. Scott, Marm., II. Introd. The startled quarry bounds amain, As fast the gallant greyhounds strain.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Quarry, the prey taken by whalers.
1883. E. Pennell-Elmhirst, Cream Leicestersh., 206. The pack pressed their sinking quarry into and through the coverts.
c. fig. Any object of chase, aim or attack; an intended prey or victim.
1615. Tomkins, Albumazar, V. i. in Hazl., Dodsley, XI. 404. When they counter Upon one quarry, break that league, as we do.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, Pref. (1697), 61. Folly was the proper Quarry of Horace, and not Vice.
1740. Somerville, Hobbinol, III. 362. If from some small Creek, A lurking Corsair the rich Quarry Spies.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. III. iii. Count Mirabeau … scents or descries richer quarry from afar.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. I. iii. 29. The archbishop dared not at once strike so large a quarry.
† 4. The attack or swoop made by a hawk upon a bird; the act of seizing or tearing the quarry. Obs.
1607. Heywood, Wom. Killed w. Kindn., Wks. 1874, II. 99. My Hawke kill’d too. Char. I, but ’twas at the querre,—Not at the mount, like mine.
1615. Latham, Falconry (1633), 27. These kindes of Hawkes … will be presently wonne with two or three quarries.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, v. § 16. Prometheus’s vultur begins her quarry in this life.
5. Comb., as quarry-overtaking, -scorning adjs.
1647. Fanshawe, trans. Pastor Fido (1676), 7. Within whose Quarry-scorning mind had place The pleasure or the glory of the Chase.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 400. Forward, the firm foot! Onward the quarry-overtaking eye!
