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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

delve.

To dig into the ground, especially with a shovel.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɛlv/
  1. To dig into the ground, especially with a shovel.

    intransitive · literary
  2. To dig; to excavate.

    ambitransitive · literary
  3. To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out

    ambitransitive · figuratively · literary
Where this word comes from

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”).

noun/dɛlv/
  1. A pit or den.

    archaic · literary
Where this word comes from

From Middle English delve, delf, dælf, from Old English delf, ġedelf (“digging”) and dælf (“that which is dug out, delf, ditch”). More at delf.

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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.