excavate

Definitions


[ˈɛkskəveɪt], (Verb)

Definitions:
- make (a hole or channel) by digging
(e.g: the cheapest way of doing this was to excavate a long trench)

- remove earth carefully from (an area) in order to find buried remains
(e.g: the site was excavated in 1975)


Phrases:

Origin:
late 16th century: from Latin excavat- ‘hollowed out’, from the verb excavare, from ex- ‘out’ + cavare ‘make or become hollow’ (from cavus ‘hollow’)




definition by Oxford Dictionaries