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delve

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
delve  (dlv)
v. delved, delv·ing, delves
v.intr.
1. To search deeply and laboriously: delved into the court records.
2. To dig the ground, as with a spade.
v.tr.
Archaic To dig (ground) with a spade.

[Middle English delven, to dig, from Old English delfan.]

delver n.

delve
Verb
[delving, delved]
1. to research deeply or intensively (for information)
2. Old-fashioned to dig [Old English delfan]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Verb1.delvedelve - turn up, loosen, or remove earth; "Dig we must"; "turn over the soil for aeration"
remove, take away, withdraw, take - remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract; "remove a threat"; "remove a wrapper"; "Remove the dirty dishes from the table"; "take the gun from your pocket"; "This machine withdraws heat from the environment"
furrow, groove, rut - hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove; "furrow soil"
rootle, rout, root - dig with the snout; "the pig was rooting for truffles"
spade - dig (up) with a spade; "I spade compost into the flower beds"
shovel - dig with or as if with a shovel; "shovel sand"; "he shovelled in the backyard all afternoon long"
trowel - use a trowel on; for light garden work or plaster work
burrow, tunnel - move through by or as by digging; "burrow through the forest"

delve
verb 1. research, investigate, explore, examine, probe, look into, burrow into, dig into
verb 2. rummage, search, look, burrow, ransack, forage, dig, fossick Austral., N.Z.
Translations
Spanish delve [dɛlv] vi to delve into → hurgar en
French delve [dɛlv] vi to delve into → fouiller dans
German delve [dɛlv] vi to delve into (subject) → sich eingehend befassen mit;
(cupboard, handbag) → tief greifen in +acc

Italian delve [dɛlv] vi to delve into → frugare in [+ subject]; far ricerche in

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The deeper we delve in search of these causes the more of them we find; and each separate cause or whole series of causes appears to us equally valid in itself and equally false by its insignificance compared to the magnitude of the events, and by its impotence- apart from the cooperation of all the other coincident causes- to occasion the event.
Professor Beecher, young and foolish, would not consent to delve into the riches of the ancient city, being too much chagrined over the loss of the idol.
I got a spade from the tool-house, and began to delve with all my might - it scraped the coffin; I fell to work with my hands; the wood commenced cracking about the screws; I was on the point of attaining my object, when it seemed that I heard a sigh from some one above, close at the edge of the grave, and bending down.
 
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