delve en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /dɛlv/
Etymology
From Middle English delven, from Old English delfan (“to dig, dig out, burrow, bury”), from Proto-Germanic *delbaną (“to dig”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelbʰ- (“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”).
Meanings
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(intransitive, literary) To dig into the ground, especially with a shovel.
Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:With a grunt that rejected a disgraceful admission of poverty, Bradly delved up a shilling and a sixpence and showed them to her. "That's all I got left," he said, and tossed the coins dyspeptically away.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 209:‘The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: all things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name. The Dwarves have a name which they do not tell. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. The lodes lead away north towards Caradhras, and down to darkness. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin’s Bane. Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it.
1954, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC; republished Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, →ISBN:He finds out, soon enough for his weal and his bane, that he is stronger than Nature: and right tyrannously and irreverently he lords it over her, clearing, delving, dyking, building, without fear or shame.
1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “Prelude. Of the Fens.”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 4: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.
1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
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(ambitransitive, literary) To dig; to excavate.
And then they made an oratory behind the altar, and would have dolven for to have laid the body in that oratory […]
[1483, Jacobus de Voragine, translated by William Caxton, The Golden Legend (in Middle English):Let him take off his plates and delve himself, if delving must be done.
1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter IV, in The White Company, New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:They dolve a grave beneath the arrow / And covered it with brere.
1865, Sebastian Evans, Brother Fabian's Manuscript: And Other Poems, page 59:
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(ambitransitive, figuratively, literary) To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
Hampton delves into all sortsa cultural rootage — from country blues to smarmy Broadway show-tunage, combining them in a friendly, swinging way. This is the sorta record that should appeal to anybody who gave up on Zappa after Weasels Ripped My Flesh.
1988 June, “Underground”, in Spin, page 32:I cannot delve him to the root.
1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):She was intensely eager to delve into the mystery of Mr. Joplin and his brief case.
1943, Emile C. Tepperman, Calling Justice, Inc.!:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| delved | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| delved | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| delves | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| delving | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| dolve | Tense=Past | archaic | lexicographic |
| dolve | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | archaic | lexicographic |
| dolven | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | archaic | lexicographic |
Deriveds
delver · undelved · undelve · indelve
Relateds
Synonyms
Translations (68)
no grave (to dig in the ground) · es ahondar / profundizar (to search carefully for information) · pt cavar (to dig in the ground) · es hurguetear (to search carefully for information) · fr creuser (to dig in the ground) · ota قازمق (to dig in the ground) · es adentrarse (to search carefully for information) · el ερευνώ (to search carefully for information) · is rannsaka (to search carefully for information) · hu ás (to dig in the ground) · bg копая (to dig in the ground) · el σκάβω (to dig in the ground) · cs zrýt (to dig in the ground) · it indagare (to search carefully for information) · nds-de dölven (to dig in the ground) · cs pátrat (to search carefully for information) · cs vyhrabat (to search carefully for information) · cs kopat (to dig in the ground) · cs vykopat (to dig in the ground) · nl delven (to dig in the ground) · pt investigar (to search carefully for information) · de ergründen (to search carefully for information) · fi tutkia (to search carefully for information) · cy cloddio (to dig in the ground) · uk заглиблюватися (to search carefully for information) · fi kaivaa (to dig in the ground) · ru копа́ть (to dig in the ground) · is kanna (to search carefully for information) · cs rýt (to dig in the ground) · de untersuchen (to search carefully for information) · de erforschen (to search carefully for information) · de buddeln (to dig in the ground) · ro săpa (to dig in the ground) · cs vypátrat (to search carefully for information) · fa کاویدن (to search carefully for information) · is moka (to dig in the ground) · ast afondar (to search carefully for information) · fr fouiller (to search carefully for information) · uk рити (to dig in the ground) · cs hrabat se (to search carefully for information) · fi paneutua (to search carefully for information) · el σκαλίζω (to dig in the ground) · de sich befassen mit (to search carefully for information) · ja ほる (to dig in the ground) · ru рыть (to dig in the ground) · uk копати (to dig in the ground) · de eintauchen (to search carefully for information) · cs vyrýt (to dig in the ground) · fi penkoa (to search carefully for information) · de wühlen (to search carefully for information) · it investigare (to search carefully for information) · cs rýt se (to search carefully for information) · da dykke ned i (to search carefully for information) · fy dolle (to dig in the ground) · it scavare (to dig in the ground) · uk копатися (to search carefully for information) · ru копа́ться (to search carefully for information) · ru ры́ться (to search carefully for information) · bg ровя се (to search carefully for information) · cs zkoumat (to search carefully for information) · fa کندن (to dig in the ground) · sv gräva (to dig in the ground) · ast cavar (to dig in the ground) · de graben (to dig in the ground) · da grave (to dig in the ground) · uk ритися (to search carefully for information) · cs vyzkoumat (to search carefully for information) · is grafa (með skóflu, with a shovel) (to dig in the ground)