excavate

  • 1Excavate — 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… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2excavate — [eks′kə vāt΄] vt. excavated, excavating [< L excavatus, pp. of excavare < ex , out + cavare, to make hollow < cavus, hollow: see CAVE] 1. to make a hole or cavity in, as by digging; hollow out 2. to form by hollowing out; dig [to… …

    English World dictionary

  • 3excavate — index disinter, extract Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 4excavate — 1590s, from L. excavatus, pp. of excavare to hollow out, from ex out (see EX (Cf. ex )) + cavare to hollow, hollow out, from cavus cave (see CAVE (Cf. cave)). Related: Excavated; excavating …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 5excavate — *dig, delve, spade, grub …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 6excavate — [v] dig up burrow, cut, delve, empty, gouge, grub, hollow, mine, quarry, scoop, scrape, shovel, spade, trench, tunnel, uncover, unearth; concept 178 Ant. fill …

    New thesaurus

  • 7excavate — ► VERB 1) make (a hole or channel) by digging. 2) extract (material) from the ground by digging. 3) carefully remove earth from (an area) in order to find buried remains. DERIVATIVES excavation noun excavator noun. ORIGIN Latin excavare hollow… …

    English terms dictionary

  • 8Excavate — This article is about the protist group. For the process of digging, see Excavation (disambiguation). Excavates Giardia lamblia, a parasitic diplomonad Scientific classification …

    Wikipedia

  • 9excavate — [[t]e̱kskəveɪt[/t]] excavates, excavating, excavated 1) VERB When archaeologists or other people excavate a piece of land, they remove earth carefully from it and look for things such as pots, bones, or buildings which are buried there, in order… …

    English dictionary

  • 10excavate — verb ADVERB ▪ completely, fully ▪ The area has not yet been fully excavated. ▪ extensively ▪ partially, partly ▪ …

    Collocations dictionary