'Excavate' definitions:
Definition of 'excavate'
From: WordNet
verb
Recover through digging; "Schliemann excavated Troy"; "excavate gold" [syn: excavate, unearth]
verb
verb
Form by hollowing; "Carnegie had a lake excavated for Princeton University's rowing team"; "excavate a cavity"
verb
Definition of 'Excavate'
From: 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel. [1913 Webster]
- 3. (Engin.) To dig out and remove, as earth. [1913 Webster]
- The material excavated was usually sand. --E. L. Corthell. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'excavate'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- avulse,
- bore,
- bring to light,
- bring up,
- burrow,
- clear,
- countersink,
- cut out,
- deepen,
- delve,
- depress,
- deracinate,
- dig,
- dig out,
- dig up,
- dike,
- disclose,
- disentangle,
- disinter,
- dive,
- draw,
- draw out,
- dredge,
- dredge up,
- drill,
- drive,
- eradicate,
- evolve,
- evulse,
- excise,
- exhume,
- expose,
- exsect,
- extract,
- extricate,
- ferret out,
- fish up,
- furrow,
- get out,
- gouge,
- gouge out,
- groove,
- grub,
- grub up,
- hollow out,
- lay bare,
- lower,
- mine,
- pick out,
- pluck out,
- pluck up,
- pull,
- pull out,
- pull up,
- quarry,
- rake out,
- remove,
- reveal,
- rip out,
- root out,
- root up,
- sap,
- scoop,
- scoop out,
- scrabble,
- scrape,
- scratch,
- shovel,
- sink,
- spade,
- take out,
- tear out,
- trench,
- trough,
- tunnel,
- turn up,
- uncover,
- unearth,
- unravel,
- uproot,
- weed out,
- withdraw,
- worm out,
- wrest out