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Webster 1913 Edition

Delve

Delve

Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Delved
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Delving
.]
[AS.
delfan
to dig; akin to OS.
bidelban
to bury, D.
delven
to dig, MHG.
telben
, and possibly to E.
dale
. Cf.
Delf
a mine.]
1.
To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade.
Delve
of convenient depth your thrashing floor.
Dryden.
2.
To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom.
I can not
delve
him to the root.
Shakespeare

Delve

,
Verb.
I.
To dig or labor with a spade, or as with a spade; to labor as a drudge.
Delve
may I not: I shame to beg.
Wyclif (Luke xvi. 3).

Delve

,
Noun.
[See
Delve
,
Verb.
T.
, and cf.
Delf
a mine.]
A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave.
Which to that shady
delve
him brought at last.
Spenser.
The very tigers from their
delves

Look out.
Moore.

Webster 1828 Edition

Delve

DELVE

,
Verb.
T.
Delv. [L. A mole, perhaps the delver.]
1.
To dig; to open the ground with a spade.
Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.
2.
To fathom; to sound; to penetrate.
I cannot delve him to the root.

DELVE

,
Noun.
Delv. A place dug: a pit; a pitfall; a ditch; a den; a cave.
Delve of coals, a quantity of fossil coals dug.

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