delve

delve

See also: Delve

English

WOTD – 17 May 2007

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛlv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlv

Etymology 1

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”).

Verb

delve (third-person singular simple present delves, present participle delving, simple past delved or (obsolete) dolve, past participle delved or (archaic) dolven)

1. (intransitive) To dig into the ground, especially with a shovel.
   • 1697, Virgil, “Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:

     Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.

   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], OCLC 156123328:

     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.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
   • 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 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     I cannot delve him to the root.

   • 1943, Emile C. Tepperman, Calling Justice, Inc.!

     She was intensely eager to delve into the mystery of Mr. Joplin and his brief case.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To dig; to excavate.
   • 1483, William Caxton, translating Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend:

     And then they made an oratory behind the altar, and would have dolven for to have laid the body in that oratory […]

   • 1865, Sebastian Evans, Brother Fabian's Manuscript: And Other Poems, page 59:

     They dolve a grave beneath the arrow
     And covered it with brere.

   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company, chapter IV

     Let him take off his plates and delve himself, if delving must be done.

Synonyms

• (to dig the ground): dig
• (to search thoroughly): investigate, research

Derived terms

• delver
• indelve
• undelve

Related terms

• dolven

Translations

to dig in the ground

Bulgarian: копая (bg) (kopaja) Czech: rýt impf, zrýt pf, vyrýt pf, kopat (cs) impf, vykopat (cs) pf Danish: grave Dutch: delven (nl) Finnish: kaivaa (fi) French: creuser (fr) German: graben (de), buddeln (de) (colloquial) Greek: σκαλίζω (el) (skalízo), σκάβω (el) (skávo) Hungarian: ás (hu) Icelandic: grafa (með skóflu, with a shovel), moka Italian: scavare (it) Japanese: ほる (ja) Low German: German Low German: dölven Norwegian: grave (no) Persian: کندن‎ (fa) (kandan) Portuguese: cavar (pt) Romanian: săpa (ro) Russian: рыть (ru) (rytʹ), копа́ть (ru) (kopátʹ) Spanish: cavar (es), excavar (es) Swedish: gräva (sv) Welsh: cloddio (cy) West Frisian: dolle

to search carefully for information

Bulgarian: ровя се (rovja se) Czech: rýt se impf, hrabat se impf, zkoumat (cs) impf, pátrat (cs) impf, vypátrat (cs) pf, vyhrabat (cs) pf, vyzkoumat pf Danish: dykke ned i Finnish: penkoa (fi), tutkia (fi), paneutua (fi) French: fouiller (fr) German: untersuchen (de), erforschen (de), ergründen (de), eintauchen (de), wühlen (de), sich befassen mit (de) Greek: ερευνώ (el) (erevnó) Icelandic: rannsaka, kanna Italian: investigare (it), indagare (it) Persian: کاویدن‎ (fa) (kâvidan) Russian: ры́ться (ru) (rýtʹsja), копа́ться (ru) (kopátʹsja) Spanish: investigar (es), ahondar (es)

Etymology 2

From Middle English delve, delf, dælf, from Old English delf, ġedelf (“digging”) and dælf (“that which is dug out, delf, ditch”). More at delf.

Noun

delve (plural delves)

1. (now rare) A pit or den.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:

     the wise Merlin whylome wont (they say) / To make his wonne, low vnderneath the ground, / In a deepe delue, farre from the vew of day [...].

   • 1995, Alan Warner, Morvern Callar, Vintage 2015, p. 75:

     I put the clods on top the delve and gave it all a good thumping down with my feet.

Related terms

• stonedelf

Anagrams

• devel

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Dutch

Verb

delve

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of delven

Anagrams

• velde

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English delfan.

Verb

delve

1. Alternative form of delven

Etymology 2

From Old English delf.

Noun

delve

1. Alternative form of delf