Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Delve

Delve (dĕlv) v. 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. Shak.

Delve, v. 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, n. [See Delve, v. 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’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article.