cave
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French cave, from Latin cava (“cavity”), from cavus (“hollow”). Cognate with Tocharian B throat (kor), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek κύαρ (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian սոր (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “empty, barren, zero”).
Pronunciation
Noun
cave (plural caves)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Cave-in-rock_IL.jpg/220px-Cave-in-rock_IL.jpg)
- A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
- We found a cave on the mountainside where we could take shelter.
- A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.
- 1918, Edward Alfred Steiner, Uncle Joe's Lincoln[1], page 52:
- Every boy at one time or another has dug a cave; I suppose because ages and ages ago his ancestors had to live in caves, […]
- A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.
- This wine has been aged in our cave for thirty years.
- A place of retreat, such as a man cave.
- My room was a cozy cave where I could escape from my family.
- (caving) A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.
- It was not strictly a cave, but a narrow fissure in the rock.
- (nuclear physics) A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
- (drilling, uncountable) Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
- 1951, James Deans Cumming, Diamond Drill Handbook[3], page 134:
- […] the casing can then be placed in the hole without encountering any cave and core drilling in rock can begin.
- (mining) A collapse or cave-in.
- 1885, Angelo Heilprin, Town Geology: The Lesson of the Philadelphia Rocks[4], page 79:
- The "breasts" of marble which unite the opposite lateral walls have been left standing in order to prevent a possible cave of the wall on either side.
- (figuratively, also slang) The vagina.
- 1976, Chester Himes, My Life of Absurdity[5], page 59:
- Then without a word she lay on her back in the bed, her dark blond pubic hair rising about her dark wet cave like dried brush about a hidden spring.
- (slang, politics, often "Cave") A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
- 1964, Leon D. Epstein, British Politics in the Suez Crisis[6], page 125:
- Without joining the cave, Hyde had abstained both in December 1956 and May 1957.
- (obsolete) Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- the cave of the ear
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (programming) A code cave.
- 2016, Nick Cano, Game Hacking: Developing Autonomous Bots for Online Games:
- Once a code cave is created, you can execute it using either thread injection or thread hijacking. […] Additionally, you'd need to make sure that the cave properly cleans the stack.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/SRT_caving_deviation.jpg/220px-SRT_caving_deviation.jpg)
- To surrender.
- He caved under pressure.
- To collapse.
- First the braces buckled, then the roof began to cave, then we ran.
- To hollow out or undermine.
- The levee has been severely caved by the river current.
- To engage in the recreational exploration of caves; to spelunk.
- I have caved from Yugoslavia to Kentucky.
- Let's go caving this weekend.
- (mining) In room-and-pillar mining, to extract a deposit of rock by breaking down a pillar which had been holding it in place.
- The deposit is caved by knocking out the posts.
- (mining, obsolete) To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
- (obsolete) To dwell in a cave.
- ante 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 2:
- although perhaps / It may be heard at court that such as we / Cave here, hunt here, are outlaws, and in time / May make some stronger head
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2
Borrowed from Latin cavē, second-person singular present active imperative of caveō (“to beware”). Used at Eton College, Berkshire.
Pronunciation
Interjection
cave
- (British, school slang) look out!; beware!
- 1989, Ben Elton & Richard Curtis, Private Plane (Blackadder Goes Forth), season 4, episode 4, spoken by Lt. George (Hugh Laurie):
- Ssh! Cave! Mum's the word! Not 'arf, or what?
Synonyms
- heads up, look out, watch it, see also Thesaurus:heads up
Derived terms
Translations
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin cavus (“concave; cavity”).
Adjective
cave (plural caves)
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Late Latin cava, substantivized form of Latin cava, feminine of the adjective cavus.
Noun
cave f (plural caves)
- A cellar or basement.
- (specifically) A wine cellar; or, a piece of furniture that serves the purpose of a wine cellar.
- (by extension) A wine selection.
- caves: An estate where wine grapes are grown or (especially) where wine is produced.
- cave à liqueurs: A chest for the storage of liquors.
Etymology 3
Probably from cavé, from the past participle of caver, a term used in games.
Noun
cave m (plural caves)
Anagrams
Further reading
- “cave”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Adjective
cave
Noun
cave f
Latin
Verb
(deprecated template usage) cavē
Norman
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
cave f (plural caves)
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -avi
Noun
cave m (plural caves)
Verb
cave
- first-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
- third-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
- third-person singular imperative of cavar
Spanish
Verb
cave
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