3 entries under this word

Delve

Dēlve, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. DELVED; p. pr. & vb. n. DELVING.] [A-S. delfan, to delve, dig; O. H. Ger. bi-telban, to bury, A-S. bedelfan, to dig about, to bury, O. Sax. bidelban.] 1. To dig; to open with a spade. Delve of convenient depth your thrashing-floor. Dryden. 2. To fathom; to penetrate; to trace out. I can not delve him to the root. Shak.

Dĕlve, v. i.

verbintransitive

To labor with the spade; to labor as a drudge.

Delve may I not, I shame to beg. Luke xvi. 3, Wycliffe's Trans.

Dĕlve, n.

noun

n. [See DELF, n.] 1. A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave. “To that shady delve him brought.” Spenser. The very tigers from their delves Look out. Moore. 2. A quantity of coals dug. [Prov. Eng.]