English Dictionary: excavate | by the DICT Development Group |
2 results for excavate | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
| |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Excavate \Ex"ca*vate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Excavated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Excavating}.] [L. excavatus, p. p. of excavare to excavate; ex out + cavare to make hollow, cavus hollow. See {Cave}.] 1. To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball; to excavate the earth. 2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel. 3. (Engin.) To dig out and remove, as earth. The material excavated was usually sand. --E. L. Corthell. {Excavating pump}, a kind of dredging apparatus for excavating under water, in which silt and loose material mixed with water are drawn up by a pump. --Knight. |