cavern
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English caverne, borrowing from Old French caverne, from Latin caverna (“hollow, cavity, cave”), from cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kăv'ən, IPA(key): /ˈkav.ən/, /ˈkav.n̩/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) enPR: kăv'ərn, IPA(key): /ˈkæv.ɚn/, /ˈkæv.ɹən/
- Rhymes: -ævə(ɹ)n
Noun
[edit]cavern (plural caverns)
- A large cave.
- An underground chamber.
- 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 55:
- In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.
- A large, dark place or space.
- a dark cavern of a shop
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]large cave
|
underground chamber
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
[edit]cavern (third-person singular simple present caverns, present participle caverning, simple past and past participle caverned)
- (transitive) To form a cavern or deep depression in.
- Synonym: hollow
- catacombs caverning the hillsides
- (transitive) To put into a cavern.
References
[edit]- “cavern”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “cavern”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱewh₁-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ævə(ɹ)n
- Rhymes:English/ævə(ɹ)n/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Caving
- en:Landforms