Excavation

3 definitions found

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

  Excavation \Ex`ca*va"tion\, n. [L. excavatio: cf. F.
     excavation.]
     1. The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting,
        scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping. "A
        winding excavation." --Glover.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Engin.)
        (a) An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from
            a {covered cutting} or {tunnel}.
        (b) The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  The delivery of the excavations at a distance of
                  250 feet.                         --E. L.
                                                    Corthell.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  excavation
       n 1: the act of digging; "there's an interesting excavation going
            on near Princeton" [syn: {digging}, {dig}]
       2: the site of an archeological exploration; "they set up camp
          next to the dig" [syn: {dig}, {archeological site}]
       3: a hole in the ground made by excavating [syn: {hole in the
          ground}]
       4: the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth [syn:
          {mining}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  153 Moby Thesaurus words for "excavation":
     abysm, abyss, arroyo, avulsion, box canyon, breach, break,
     bringing to light, burrow, canyon, casual discovery, catching,
     cavity, chance discovery, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink,
     cleft, cleuch, clough, col, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crater,
     crevasse, crevice, cut, cutting out, cwm, deepening, defile, dell,
     depression, deracination, detection, determination, determining,
     dig, digging, diggings, dike, disclosure, discovery,
     disentanglement, distinguishment, ditch, donga, draw, drawing,
     drawing out, dredging, drilling, engraving, enucleation,
     eradication, espial, evolvement, evulsion, excision, exhumation,
     exposure, expression, exsection, extirpation, extraction,
     extrication, fault, find, finding, finding out, fissure, flaw,
     flume, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gorge, groove, gulch,
     gulf, gully, hole, hollow, incision, indentation, invention, joint,
     kloof, leak, locating, location, lowering, lucky strike, mine,
     mining, moat, notch, nullah, opening, pass, passage, pit,
     pressing out, probing, pulling, quarry, quarrying, ravine,
     recognition, rediscovery, removal, rent, revelation, rift, rime,
     ripping out, rupture, scissure, seam, serendipity, shaft, sinkage,
     sinking, slit, slot, split, spotting, squeezing out, strike,
     treasure trove, trench, trough, trouvaille, trove, tunnel,
     tunneling, uncovering, unearthing, unrooting, uprooting, valley,
     void, wadi, well, withdrawal, workings, wresting out