Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dive

Dive (dīv), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dived (dīvd), colloq. Dove (dōv), a relic of the AS. strong forms deáf, dofen; p. pr. & vb. n. Diving.] [OE. diven, duven, AS. dȳfan to sink, v. t., fr. dūfan, v. i.; akin to Icel. dȳfa, G. taufen, E. dip, deep, and perh. to dove, n. Cf. Dip.] 1. To plunge into water head foremost; to thrust the body under, or deeply into, water or other fluid.

It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them. Whately.

☞ The colloquial form dove is common in the United States as an imperfect tense form.

All [the walruses] dove down with a tremendous splash. Dr. Hayes.

When closely pressed it [the loon] dove . . . and left the young bird sitting in the water. J. Burroughs.

2. Fig.: To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore. South.

Dive (dīv), v. t. 1. To plunge (a person or thing) into water; to dip; to duck. [Obs.] Hooker.

2. To explore by diving; to plunge into. [R.]

The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of fame. Denham.

He dives the hollow, climbs the steeps. Emerson.

Dive, n. 1. A plunge headforemost into water, the act of one who dives, literally or figuratively.

2. A place of low resort; a dispreputable bar or nightclub; a dingy hotel; a joint. [Slang]

The music halls and dives in the lower part of the city. J. Hawthorne.

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; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.