† quaryn.
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin quārē.
Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < classical Latin quārē why, wherefore (see quare impedit n.), with remodelling or respelling of the ending (perhaps after words in -y suffix4). Compare later quaere n., query n.2It is unclear whether the following later quot. (which apparently contains snippets of news or gossip) shows the same word:1681 W. Longueville Let. 30 Aug. in E. M. Thompson Corr. Family of Hatton (1878) II. 7 I have been at Putney all this day almost, and so want ye news of ye noone (if any bee)... Earle of Gerrard or Macclesfield was dismissed ye bed-chamber, but of ye Earle of Manch[ester] it is a quary as yett.
Obsolete.
rare.
c1540 Image Ipocrysy ii., in J. Skelton (1843) II. 427 With quibes and quaryes Of inventataries.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2019).