Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To search deeply and laboriously.
  • intransitive verb To research or make inquiries into something.
  • intransitive verb To undertake an activity or occupation undeterred by difficulty or uncertainty.
  • intransitive verb To discuss or explain something, especially in detail.
  • intransitive verb To enter or move into an area in which movement is difficult.
  • intransitive verb To dig the ground, as with a spade.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To dig (ground) with a spade.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To dig; turn up or excavate with a spade or some other tool.
  • To bury.
  • To practise digging; labor with the spade.
  • Figuratively, to carry on laborious or continued research or investigation, as one digging for hidden treasure.
  • noun A place dug or hollowed out; a pitfall; a ditch; a den; a cave.
  • noun That which is dug out: as, a delve of coals (a certain quantity of coal dug from a mine).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To dig or labor with a spade, or as with a spade; to labor as a drudge.
  • noun A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave.
  • transitive verb To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade.
  • transitive verb To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To dig the ground, especially with a shovel.
  • verb transitive, intransitive To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
  • verb transitive, intransitive To dig, to excavate.
  • noun A pit or den.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb turn up, loosen, or remove earth

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English delven, delfan ("to dig, examine, bury, imbed, implant"), from Old English delfan ("to dig, dig out, burrow, bury"), from Proto-Germanic *delbanan, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelbʰ- (“to dig”).

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Examples

Comments

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  • I absolutely abominate this word when used in the sense of "inquire into or learn about". Such a pretentious metaphor!

    November 2, 2010

  • ChatGPT-generated papers use "delve" more often than normal human use, so we may see an increase of its use generally in society. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7PF_C4ACDK/

    It also overuses commendable and meticulous. Future search terms for teachers looking for student copypasta.

    May 22, 2024