different between delve vs cave

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?lv/
• Rhymes: -?lv

Etymology 1

From Middle English delven, from Old English delfan (“to dig, dig out, burrow, bury”), from Proto-Germanic *delban? (“to dig”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?elb?- (“to dig”). Cognate with West Frisian dolle (“to dig, delve”), Dutch delven (“to dig, delve”), Low German dölven (“to dig, delve”), dialectal German delben, telben (“to dig, delve”).

Verb

delve (third-person singular simple present delves, present participle delving, simple past delved or (obsolete) dolve, past participle delved or (archaic) dolven)

1. (intransitive) To dig the ground, especially with a shovel.

   • Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.

   • I got a spade from the tool-house, and began to delve with all my might - it scraped the coffin; I fell to work with my hands; the wood commenced cracking about the screws; I was on the point of attaining my object, when it seemed that I heard a sigh from some one above, close at the edge of the grave, and bending down.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
   • 1609-11, Shakespeare, Cymbeline, King of Britain

     I cannot delve him to the root.

   • 1943, Emile C. Tepperman, Calling Justice, Inc.!

     She was intensely eager to delve into the mystery of Mr. Joplin and his brief case.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To dig, to excavate.
   • ca. 1260, Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend

     And then they made an oratory behind the altar, and would have dolven for to have laid the body in that oratory ...

   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company, chapter IV

     Let him take off his plates and delve himself, if delving must be done.

Synonyms

• (to dig the ground): dig
• (to search thoroughly): investigate, research

Derived terms

• delver
• indelve
• undelve

Related terms

• dolven

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English delve, delf, dælf, from Old English delf, ?edelf (“digging”) and dælf (“that which is dug out, delf, ditch”). More at delf.

Noun

delve (plural delves)

1. (now rare) A pit or den.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iii:

     the wise Merlin whylome wont (they say) / To make his wonne, low vnderneath the ground, / In a deepe delue, farre from the vew of day [...].

   • 1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage 2015, p. 75:

     I put the clods on top the delve and gave it all a good thumping down with my feet.

Related terms

• stonedelf

Anagrams

• devel

Dutch

Verb

delve

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of delven

Anagrams

• velde

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English delfan.

Verb

delve

1. Alternative form of delven

Etymology 2

From Old English delf.

Noun

delve

1. Alternative form of delf

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French cave, from Latin cava (“cavity”), from cavus (“hollow”). Cognate with Tocharian B throat (kor), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek ???? (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian ??? (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit ????? (??nya, “empty, barren, zero”). Displaced native Old English s?ræf.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?v, IPA^(key): /ke?v/
• Rhymes: -e?v

Noun

cave (plural caves)

1. A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.

2. A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.
3. A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.

4. A place of retreat, such as a man cave.

5. (caving) A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.

6. (nuclear physics) A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
7. (drilling, uncountable) Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
8. (mining) A collapse or cave-in.
9. (figuratively, also slang) The vagina.
10. (slang, politics, often "Cave") A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
11. (obsolete) Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
12. (programming) A code cave.

Synonyms

• earthhole

Derived terms

• cave dweller
• caveman
• cave painting
• cavewoman
• seacave

Translations

Verb

cave (third-person singular simple present caves, present participle caving, simple past and past participle caved)

1. To surrender.

2. To collapse.

3. To hollow out or undermine.

4. To engage in the recreational exploration of caves.

   Synonym: spelunk
5. (mining) In room-and-pillar mining, to extract a deposit of rock by breaking down a pillar which had been holding it in place.

6. (mining, obsolete) To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
7. (obsolete) To dwell in a cave.

Derived terms

• block caving
• cave in
• caver
• caving hammer

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin cav?, second-person singular present active imperative of cave? (“to beware”). Used at Eton College, Berkshire.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k??v?, IPA^(key): /?ke?vi/
  • Rhymes: -e?vi
• Homophone: cavy

Interjection

cave

1. (Britain, school slang) look out!; beware!

Synonyms

• heads up, look out, watch it, see also Thesaurus:heads up

Derived terms

• keep cave

Translations

Anagrams

• evac

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kav/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin cavus (“concave; cavity”).

Adjective

cave (plural caves)

1. pitted
2. concave
3. cavernous

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Late Latin cava, substantivized form of Latin cava, feminine of the adjective cavus.

Noun

cave f (plural caves)

1. A cellar or basement.
2. (specifically) A wine cellar; or, a piece of furniture that serves the purpose of a wine cellar.
3. (by extension) A wine selection.
4. caves: An estate where wine grapes are grown or (especially) where wine is produced.
5. cave à liqueurs: A chest for the storage of liquors.

Derived terms

• cave à vin

Etymology 3

Probably from cavé, from the past participle of caver, a term used in games.

Noun

cave m (plural caves)

1. (Quebec, slang) An imbecile, a stupid person.

Anagrams

• avec

Further reading

• “cave” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

cave

1. feminine plural of cavo

Noun

cave f

1. plural of cava

Latin

Verb

cav?

1. second-person singular present imperative of cave?
   • 1st century AD, Petronius, Satyricon

     Cave canem.

     Beware of the dog.

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

cave f (plural caves)

1. (Jersey) cave, cellar

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -avi

Noun

cave m (plural caves)

1. cellar

Verb

cave

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
3. third-person singular imperative of cavar

Spanish

Verb

cave

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of cavar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of cavar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of cavar.