cave

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to hollow out as if making a cave or opening

   The children caved the sand on the beach.

2. 2
   noun

   A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.

   We found a cave on the mountainside where we could take shelter.

3. 3
   noun

   A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.

   Every boy at one time or another has dug a cave; I suppose because ages and ages ago his ancestors had to live in caves, […]

4. 4
   noun

   A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.

   This wine has been aged in our cave for thirty years.

5. 5
   noun

   A place of retreat, such as a man cave.

   My room was a cozy cave where I could escape from my family.

6. 6
   noun

   A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.

   It was not strictly a cave, but a narrow fissure in the rock.

7. 7
   noun

   A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.

   These potential radiation fields or radioactive material levels may be the result of normal operations (ie, radiation in a target cave) […]

8. 8
   noun

   Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.

   […] the casing can then be placed in the hole without encountering any cave and core drilling in rock can begin.

Etymology

From Middle English cave, borrowed from Old French cave, from Latin cava (“cavity”), from cavus (“hollow”). Cognate with Tocharian B kor (“throat”), Albanian cup (“odd, uneven”), Ancient Greek κύαρ (kúar, “eye of needle, earhole”), Old Armenian սոր (sor, “hole”), Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “empty, barren, zero”). Displaced native Old English sċræf. More at cavum, cavus and cage.