Excavating

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Excavate \Ex"ca*vate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Excavated}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Excavating}.] [L. excavatus, p. p. of excavare to
     excavate; ex out + cavare to make hollow, cavus hollow. See
     {Cave}.]
     1. To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow
        by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball;


        to excavate the earth.
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     2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything
        that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a
        channel.
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     3. (Engin.) To dig out and remove, as earth.
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              The material excavated was usually sand. --E. L.
                                                    Corthell.
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     {Excavating pump}, a kind of dredging apparatus for
        excavating under water, in which silt and loose material
        mixed with water are drawn up by a pump. --Knight.
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