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  1. delve love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To search deeply and laboriously: delved into the court records.
  2. v. To dig the ground, as with a spade.
  3. v. Archaic To dig (ground) with a spade.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

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

Wiktionary

  1. v. intransitive To dig the ground, especially with a shovel.
  2. v. transitive, intransitive To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
  3. v. transitive, intransitive To dig, to excavate.
  4. n. A pit or den.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade.
  2. v. To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom.
  3. v. To dig or labor with a spade, or as with a spade; to labor as a drudge.
  4. n. A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. turn up, loosen, or remove earth

Etymologies

  1. 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”). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English delven, to dig, from Old English delfan. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • milosrdenstvi I absolutely abominate this word when used in the sense of "inquire into or learn about". Such a pretentious metaphor! Nov 1, 2010

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‘delve’ has been looked up 3200 times, loved by 8 people, added to 44 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 9.