| 释义 |
▪ I. excavate, ppl. a.|ˈɛkskəveɪt|
[ad. L. excavāt-us, f. excavāre: see next.]
Hollowed out.
1571Digges Pantom. i. xvii. E iij, Water..contained in these Welles, or in any other Regular excauate body. Ibid. iii. iv. Q ij b, Howe excauate or holowe tymber..is measured. 1848Dana Zooph. 200 Cells excavate, many-rayed.
▪ II. excavate, v.|ˈɛkskəveɪt|
[f. L. excavāt- ppl. stem of excavāre to hollow out, f. ex- out + cavāre, f. cavus hollow: see cave.]
1. trans. To make hollow by removing the inside; to make hollow in, to hollow out; to dig out (soil) leaving a hollow. Also, to excavate (something) into: to form into by hollowing.
Now chiefly with reference to the removal of earth by digging; the wider use tends to be felt as transf. from this.
1599A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 95/2 Take a sweete and fragrant Apple, excavate the same. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 189 Reserve it [Dung] for Use in some hard-bottom'd shady Place, a little excavated. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. (J.), Flat thecæ, some like hats, some like buttons, excavated in the middle. 1837Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 197 (Engineer) So much per cubic yard according to the nature of the soil to be excavated. 1853Phillips Rivers Yorksh. viii. 202 The ground is excavated in a circular shape, so as to make a pit. 1866Dickens Repr. Pieces 117 The foot of the cliff is excavated into a cavern. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 45 Viola tricolor..stigma capitate, excavated. Heartsease or Pansy.
2. To form or make (a hole, channel, etc.) by hollowing out.
1839G. Bird Nat. Phil. 233 If a cavity be excavated at this point. 1850Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 329 One of them began to excavate a hole, and soon entirely disappeared under ground. 1873Mivart Elem. Anat. ii. 50 The canal..excavated inside the neural arches.
3. To uncover or lay bare by digging; to unearth. Also fig.
1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 381/1 About a fourth part of the city [Pompeii] along the western side of the walls has been excavated. 1844Mem. Babylonian P'cess II. 61 In excavating the tomb, a slab has been left about two feet six inches high. 1864Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 89 A Scotsman..excavated by the labours of the indefatigable Dr. M Crie.
4. To get out by digging.
1848W. H. Barlett Egypt to Pal. x. (1879) 220 It seems to be as yet unproved opinion that copper was found and excavated in this place. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xl. (1856) 363 Pulpaceous material which he had excavated from the ice.
Hence ˈexcavated ppl. a.; ˈexcavating vbl. n. (also attrib.)
1599A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 111/2 An excavatede peece of woode. 1664Evelyn Acc. Archit. 130 Striges..are those excavated Channells by our Workmen call'd Flutings and Groeves. 1691T. [Hale] Acc. New Invent. 124 We come to hollowing or excavating of our Logg. 1712Blackmore Creation v. 740 Deep Caves..Which..wrought with endless Toil, Ran thro' the faithless excavated Soil. 1847Disraeli Tancred vi. iii, This opened into a covered and excavated way. 1855H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. (1870) I. v. ii. 516 The..excavating power of the current.
Add:5. intr. To dig, make a hole or hollow by digging, esp. in the course of mining, archaeological investigation, etc.
1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 370/2 The engineers..adopted unusual precautions in the first instance, excavating only nine feet in advance of the brickwork, and supporting the clay by very strong timbering until the arching was complete. 1859Darwin Origin of Species viii. 228 As soon as this occurred, the bees ceased to excavate. 1940E. Wilson To Finland Station i. iii. 18 The deeper I have excavated, the more surely I have satisfied myself that the best was underneath, in the obscure depths. 1957[see dig n.1 1 b]. 1987Church Times 26 June 11/4 Their last resting-place shattered by bulldozers excavating for the foundations of a new road. |