| 释义 |
excavation|ɛkskəˈveɪʃən|
[(? a. F. excavation) ad. L. excavātiōn-em, n. of action f. excavāre: see excavate.]
The action of excavating.
1. The action or process of digging out a hollow or hollows in (the earth, etc.); an instance of the same; the result or extent of the process.
1611in Cotgr. s.v. Excavation. 1623–6 in Cockeram. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. ii. 299 This excavation of the Terrestrial Body, or elevation of other parts thereof whereby the water subsided. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., The excavation of the foundations of a building..is settled, by Palladio, at a sixth part of the height of the whole building. 1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 89 The utter separation of both continents was most probably the effect of excavations by volcanoes. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man 35 All the remains of organic bodies found during the excavations belonged to living species. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 134 The amount of excavation which can be wrought..by means of running water. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 38/2 Digging out the hollows for cellars, &c...is called the excavation.
2. concr. An excavated space; a cavity or hollow.
1779–81Johnson L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 45 Pope's excavation was requisite as an entrance to his garden. 1783Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 145 All spots..which consist of a dark nucleus, and surrounding umbra, are excavations in the luminous matter of the sun. 1848W. H. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xxiv. (1879) 489 The wine-press was an oblong excavation in the rock. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. App. (1856) 550 All great peninsulas..have an excavation or bend inward on their westward side.
3. The process of laying bare by excavating; an unearthing; in quot. fig.
1864Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 73 The excavation of state papers has thrown [light] on the vast designs of, etc. |