excavate

• POS: Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: ex=ca=vate

CIDE DICTIONARY

excavate, v. t. [L. excavatus, p. p. of excavare to excavate; ex out + cavare to make hollow, cavus hollow. See Cave.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel.  [1913 Webster]
•  To dig out and remove, as earth.  [1913 Webster]

  "The material excavated was usually sand."  [1913 Webster]

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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

excavate, v.tr.
1 a make (a hole or channel) by digging. b dig out material from (the ground).
2 reveal or extract by digging.
3 (also absol.) Archaeol. dig systematically into the ground to explore (a site).

Derivative

excavation n. excavator n.

Etymology

L excavare (as EX-(1), cavus hollow)

THESAURUS

excavate

avulse, bore, bring to light, bring up, burrow, clear, countersink, cut out, deepen, delve, depress, deracinate, dig, dig out, dig up, dike, disclose, disentangle, disinter, dive, draw, draw out, dredge, dredge up, drill, drive, eradicate, evolve, evulse, excise, exhume, expose, exsect, extract, extricate, ferret out, fish up, furrow, get out, gouge, gouge out, groove, grub, grub up, hollow out, lay bare, lower, mine, pick out, pluck out, pluck up, pull, pull out, pull up, quarry, rake out, remove, reveal, rip out, root out, root up, sap, scoop, scoop out, scrabble, scrape, scratch, shovel, sink, spade, take out, tear out, trench, trough, tunnel, turn up, uncover, unearth, unravel, uproot, weed out, withdraw, worm out, wrest out

ROGET THESAURUS

excavate

Concavity

VB be concave, retire, cave in, render concave, depress, hollow, scoop, scoop out, gouge, gouge out, dig, delve, excavate, dent, dint, mine, sap, undermine, burrow, tunnel, stave in.