Quarry definition: extraction of stone by cutting or blasting, guiding legal characterisation of excavations. Quarry denotes an excavation from which stone is obtained, defined in authoritative English dictionaries as the extraction of stone by cutting, blasting or analogous processes. The Shorter Oxford and Concise Oxford definitions treat 'to quarry' as obtaining or extracting stone by the practical methods employed in a quarry, framing the descriptive legal terminology for quarry and the act of quarrying.