delve

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Related to delve: delve into

delve

(dĕlv)

v. delved, delv·ing, delves

v.intr.

1. To search deeply and laboriously: delved through the court records.

a. To research or make inquiries into something: scientists delving into gene regulation.

b. To undertake an activity or occupation undeterred by difficulty or uncertainty: delved into writing a blog.

c. To discuss or explain something, especially in detail: The article delves into the problems facing the banking system.

3. To enter or move into an area in which movement is difficult: The explorers delved into the forest.

4. To dig the ground, as with a spade.

v.tr.

Archaic To dig (ground) with a spade.

[Middle English delven, to dig, from Old English delfan.]

delv′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

delve

(dɛlv)

vb (mainly intr; often foll by in or into)

1. to inquire or research deeply or intensively (for information, etc): he delved in the Bible for quotations.

2. to search or rummage (in a drawer, the pockets, etc)

3. (Zoology) (esp of an animal) to dig or burrow deeply (into the ground, etc)

4. (also tr) archaic or dialect to dig or turn up (earth, a garden, etc), as with a spade

[Old English delfan; related to Old High German telban to dig, Russian dolbit to hollow out with a chisel]

ˈdelver n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

delve

(dɛlv)

v. delved, delv•ing. v.i.

1. to carry on intensive and thorough research for data, information, or the like.

2. Archaic. to dig, as with a spade.

v.t.

3. Archaic. to dig; excavate.

[before 900; Middle English; Old English delfan; c. Old Saxon -delban, Old High German -telban]

delv′er, n.

delve

Past participle: delved
Gerund: delving

Imperative
delve
delve

Present
I delve
you delve
he/she/it delves
we delve
you delve
they delve

Preterite
I delved
you delved
he/she/it delved
we delved
you delved
they delved

Present Continuous
I am delving
you are delving
he/she/it is delving
we are delving
you are delving
they are delving

Present Perfect
I have delved
you have delved
he/she/it has delved
we have delved
you have delved
they have delved

Past Continuous
I was delving
you were delving
he/she/it was delving
we were delving
you were delving
they were delving

Past Perfect
I had delved
you had delved
he/she/it had delved
we had delved
you had delved
they had delved

Future
I will delve
you will delve
he/she/it will delve
we will delve
you will delve
they will delve

Future Perfect
I will have delved
you will have delved
he/she/it will have delved
we will have delved
you will have delved
they will have delved

Future Continuous
I will be delving
you will be delving
he/she/it will be delving
we will be delving
you will be delving
they will be delving

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been delving
you have been delving
he/she/it has been delving
we have been delving
you have been delving
they have been delving

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been delving
you will have been delving
he/she/it will have been delving
we will have been delving
you will have been delving
they will have been delving

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been delving
you had been delving
he/she/it had been delving
we had been delving
you had been delving
they had been delving

Conditional
I would delve
you would delve
he/she/it would delve
we would delve
you would delve
they would delve

Past Conditional
I would have delved
you would have delved
he/she/it would have delved
we would have delved
you would have delved
they would have delved

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb

delve - turn up, loosen, or remove earth; "Dig we must"; "turn over the soil for aeration"

cut into, dig, turn over

remove, take away, withdraw, take - remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract; "remove a threat"; "remove a wrapper"; "Remove the dirty dishes from the table"; "take the gun from your pocket"; "This machine withdraws heat from the environment"

furrow, groove, rut - hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove; "furrow soil"

rootle, rout, root - dig with the snout; "the pig was rooting for truffles"

shovel - dig with or as if with a shovel; "shovel sand"; "he shovelled in the backyard all afternoon long"

trowel - use a trowel on; for light garden work or plaster work

burrow, tunnel - move through by or as by digging; "burrow through the forest"

delve

verb

1. research, investigate, explore, examine, probe, look into, burrow, dig into She delved into her mother's past.

2. rummage, search, look into, burrow, ransack, forage, dig into, fossick (Austral. & N.Z.) He delved into his rucksack and pulled out a folder.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

delve

verb

1. To go into or through for the purpose of making discoveries or acquiring information:

dig, explore, inquire, investigate, look into, probe, reconnoiter, scout.

2. To break, turn over, or remove (earth or sand, for example) with or as if with a tool:

dig, excavate, grub, scoop, shovel, spade.

Translations

fare ricerche indagare scavare

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delve

[delv] VI to delve into [+ pocket, cupboard] → hurgar en, rebuscar en; [+ subject] → profundizar en, ahondar en; [+ past] → hurgar en
we must delve deeper → tenemos que profundizar or ahondar todavía más

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

delve

[ˈdɛlv] vi

(= reach, search) to delve into sth [+ cupboard, bag] → fouiller dans qch

(= investigate) to delve into sth [+ subject, past] → fouiller dans qch

delve

vi (into subject) → sich eingehend befassen (into mit); (into book) → sich vertiefen (→ into in +acc); to delve in(to) one’s pocket/a drawer → tief in die Tasche/eine Schublade greifen; to delve into the past → die Vergangenheit erforschen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

delve

[dɛlv] vi to delve into (pocket, bag) → frugare in; (subject) → far ricerche in

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

The deeper we delve in search of these causes the more of them we find; and each separate cause or whole series of causes appears to us equally valid in itself and equally false by its insignificance compared to the magnitude of the events, and by its impotence- apart from the cooperation of all the other coincident causes- to occasion the event.

View in context

Let him take off his plates and delve himself, if delving must be done."

View in context

If she be cold, I'll think it is this north wind that chills ME; and if she be motionless, it is sleep." I got a spade from the tool-house, and began to delve with all my might - it scraped the coffin; I fell to work with my hands; the wood commenced cracking about the screws; I was on the point of attaining my object, when it seemed that I heard a sigh from some one above, close at the edge of the grave, and bending down.

View in context

Professor Beecher, young and foolish, would not consent to delve into the riches of the ancient city, being too much chagrined over the loss of the idol.

View in context

Then I am quite satisfied with the experiment, and fancy that we shall not have to repeat it, only don't go to the other extreme and delve like slaves.

View in context

Some, to the fountain; some, to the fields; men and women here, to dig and delve; men and women there, to see to the poor live stock, and lead the bony cows out, to such pasture as could be found by the roadside.

View in context

(i) Twenty samples were collected based on the proportion of area covered by the delve lines (30%, six samples) and between delve lines (70%, 14 samples) (stratified sampling).

Increases in organic carbon concentration and stock after clay addition to sands: validation of sampling methodology and effects of modification method

It said: "Ospreys Rugby can con-firm that Gareth Delve has been released from his contract with effect from today.

Delve departs Ospreys after 56 minutes of play

Judge Simon Phillips QC let Delve keep his freedom this week, saying he had a job offer and could lead a law-abiding useful life.

Burglar's chance to 'redeem himself '

Delve enables you to create a Group, which in turn generates a user portal that includes an ongoing conversation feed (using Yammer technology), calendar, document library, inbox, related data files, to-do tasks, and internal and external communications, an example of which is pictured below.

Delve into this

Delve, 32, will move to the Welsh region this summer.

Back-row Delve signs for Ospreys

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