|
|
Definition of Delve
1. Verb. Turn up, loosen, or remove earth. "Turn over the soil for aeration"
Generic synonyms: Remove, Take, Take Away, Withdraw
Specialized synonyms: Furrow, Groove, Rut, Root, Rootle, Rout, Spade, Shovel, Trowel, Burrow, Tunnel
Derivative terms: Dig, Dig, Digger, Digging
Also: Dig In, Dig Out, Dig Up
Definition of Delve
1. v. t. To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade.
2. v. i. To dig or labor with a spade, or as with a spade; to labor as a drudge.
3. n. A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave.
Definition of Delve
1. Verb. (intransitive) To dig the ground, especially with a shovel. ¹
2. Verb. (ambitransitive) To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out ¹
3. Verb. (ambitransitive) To dig, to excavate. ¹
4. Noun. (rare) A pit or den. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Delve
1. to search in depth [v DELVED, DELVING, DELVES]
Medical Definition of Delve
1. 1. To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade. "Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floo" (Dryden) 2. To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom. "I can not delve him to the root." (Shak) Origin: AS. Delfan to dig; akin to OS. Bidelban to bury, D. Delven to dig, MHG. Telben, and possibly to E. Dale. Cf. Delf a mine. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Delve
Literary usage of Delve
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. A Glossary; Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1867)
"With colla« they be yok'd to prore the arm at A DELF, DELFT, or delve. ...
delve, or dig, is hardly obsolete; this substantive has long been so. ..."
2. A Glossary: Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1901)
"The verb to delve, or dig, is hardly obsolete; this substantive has long been so.
... Guyon finds Mammon in a delve Sunning his treasure horc. ..."
3. A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1901)
"(Dn.) Earthenware first made at Delft, formerly Delf, a town in S. Holland, about
AD 1310 (Haydn). The town was named from its del/ or canal ; cf. delve. ..."
4. Southey's Common-place Book by Robert Southey (1849)
"To plant strange country fruits, to sow such seeds likewise, To dig and delve
for new-found roots, where old might well suffice ..."
Other Resources:
