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Excavate

//ˈɛk.skə.veɪt// adj, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Made hollow. not-comparable, rare
  2. 2
    excavated, hollowed out not-comparable, obsolete
Noun
  1. 1
    Any member of a major grouping of unicellular eukaryotes, of the clade Excavata.
Verb
  1. 1
    To make a hole in (something); to hollow. transitive
  2. 2
    remove the inner part or the core of wordnet
  3. 3
    To remove part of (something) by scooping or digging it out. transitive
  4. 4
    form by hollowing wordnet
  5. 5
    To uncover (something) by digging. transitive
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    find by digging in the ground wordnet
  2. 7
    recover through digging wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

First attested in 1599, from Latin excavātus (“hollowed out”), perfect passive participle of excavō (“to hollow out”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out”) + cavō (“to hollow out, pierce”), from cavus (“cave, hole”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Etymology 2

First attested in 1599, from Latin excavātus (“hollowed out”), perfect passive participle of excavō (“to hollow out”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out”) + cavō (“to hollow out, pierce”), from cavus (“cave, hole”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Etymology 3

From a substantivization of Latin excavātus through the associated taxon's name (Excavata), see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

See also for "excavate"

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