delve

delve
    v 1: turn up, loosen, or remove earth; "Dig we must"; "turn over
         the soil for aeration" [syn: {dig}, {delve}, {cut into},
         {turn over}]
    

Delve \Delve\, v. i.
   To dig or labor with a spade, or as with a spade; to labor as
   a drudge.
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         Delve may I not: I shame to beg.         --Wyclif (Luke
                                                  xvi. 3).
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Delve \Delve\, n. [See {Delve}, v. t., and cf. {Delf} a mine.]
   A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave.
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         Which to that shady delve him brought at last.
   --Spenser.
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         The very tigers from their delves
         Look out.                                --Moore.
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Delve \Delve\v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Delved}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Delving}.] [AS. delfan to dig; akin to OS. bidelban to bury,
   D. delven to dig, MHG. telben, and possibly to E. dale. Cf.
   {Delf} a mine.]
   1. To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade.
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            Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom.
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            I can not delve him to the root.      --Shak.
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Delf \Delf\ (d[e^]lf), n. [AS. delf a delving, digging. See
   {Delve}.]
   A mine; a quarry; a pit dug; a ditch. [Written also {delft},
   and {delve}.] [Obs.]
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         The delfts would be so flown with waters, that no gins
         or machines could . . . keep them dry.   --Ray.
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76 Moby Thesaurus words for "delve":
      backset, beat the bushes, bore, burrow, cavity, cultivate, culture,
      cut, dig, dig out, dike, dredge, dress, drill, drive, excavate,
      explore, fallow, fertilize, forage, force, frisk, furrow,
      go through, gouge, gouge out, groove, grub, harrow, hoe, hollow,
      hunt, list, look around, look round, look through, lower, mine,
      mulch, nose around, plow, pocket, poke, poke around, prune, pry,
      quarry, rake, research, root, sap, scoop, scoop out, scrabble,
      scrape, scratch, search, search through, shovel, sink,
      smell around, spade, thin, thin out, till, till the soil, trench,
      trough, tunnel, vacancy, vacuity, vacuum, void, weed, weed out,
      work