cave.
A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
Meaning & usage
A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
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.
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.
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.
A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
A collapse or cave-in.
The vagina.
A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
A code cave.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English cave, borrowed from Old French cave, from Latin cava (“cavity”), from cavus (“hollow”). Cognate with Tocharian B kor (“throat”), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek κύαρ (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian սոր (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “empty, barren, zero”). Displaced native Old English sċræf. More at cavum, cavus and cage.
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.
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.
To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
To dwell in a cave.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English cave, borrowed from Old French cave, from Latin cava (“cavity”), from cavus (“hollow”). Cognate with Tocharian B kor (“throat”), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek κύαρ (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian սոր (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “empty, barren, zero”). Displaced native Old English sċræf. More at cavum, cavus and cage.
look out!; beware!
Where this word comes from
Learned borrowing from Latin cavē, second-person singular present active imperative of caveō (“to beware”). Used at Eton College, Berkshire.
Try it on your idea.
cave has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.