Category:Excavate

Ex"ca*vate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Excavated; p. pr. & vb. n. Excavating.] Etym: [L. excavatus, p. p. of excavare to excavate; ex out + cavare to make hollow, cavus hollow. See Cave.]

1. To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball; to excavate the earth.

2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel.

3. (Engin.)

Defn: To dig out and remove, as earth. The material excavated was usually sand. E. L. Corthell. Excavating pump, a kind of dredging apparatus for excavating under water, in which silt and loose material mixed with water are drawn up by a pump. Knight.