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:

     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:

     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, (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, Jacobus de Voragine, translated by William Caxton, 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, chapter IV, in The White Company:

     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)
• Ukrainian: рити (ryty), копати (kopaty)
• 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)
• Portuguese: investigar (pt)
• Russian: ры́ться (ru) (rýtʹsja), копа́ться (ru) (kopátʹsja)
• Spanish: investigar (es), ahondar (es)
• Ukrainian: заглиблюватися (zahlybljuvatysja), ритися (rytysja), копатися (kopatysja)

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:

     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, published 2015, page 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

Dutch

Verb

delve

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of delven

Anagrams

• velde

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