different between ditch vs cave

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?t?/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Etymology 1

From Middle English dich, from Old English d?? (“trench, moat”) from Proto-Germanic *d?kaz (compare Swedish dike, Icelandic díki, West Frisian dyk (“dam”), Dutch dijk (“id.”), German Teich (“pond”)), from Proto-Indo-European *d?eyg?- (“to stick, set up”) (compare Latin f?g? (“to affix, fasten”), Lithuanian diegti (“to prick; plant”), dýgsti (“to geminate, grow”)). Doublet of dike.

Noun

ditch (plural ditches)

1. A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage.

2. (Ireland) A raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top.
   • c. 1947, Patrick Kavanagh, Stony Grey Soil

     You flung a ditch on my vision

     Of beauty, love and truth.

     O stony grey soil of Monaghan

     You burgled my bank of youth!

   • 2013, Frank McNally, When Anglophone lines get crossed

     The original ditches were created by digging trenches, as boundaries and/or irrigation. But to the English, the ditch is the trench. Whereas in Ireland, the ditch is the raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top. (As for the trench, where I come from that’s a sheugh).

References

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• fosse
• moat

Verb

ditch (third-person singular simple present ditches, present participle ditching, simple past and past participle ditched)

1. (transitive) To discard or abandon.

2. To deliberately crash-land an airplane on water.

3. (intransitive) To deliberately not attend classes; to play hookey.

4. (intransitive) To dig ditches.

5. (transitive) To dig ditches around.

6. (transitive) To throw into a ditch.

Synonyms

• abandon
• discard
• dump
• jettison
• lose
• shed
• See also Thesaurus:junk

Translations

Etymology 2

From earlier deche, from Middle English dechen, from Old English d?can (“to smear, plaster, daub”). More at deech.

Verb

ditch (third-person singular simple present ditches, present participle ditching, simple past and past participle ditched)

1. Alternative form of deech

Noun

ditch (usually uncountable, plural ditches)

1. Alternative form of deech

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.