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Digging Up the History of Delve
We must dig deep into the English language’s past to find the origins of delve. The verb traces to the early Old English word delfan meaning “to dig.” For centuries, there was only delving—no digging—because dig didn’t exist until much later; it appears in early Middle English. Given dig and delve’s overlapping meanings today, is the phrase “dig and delve” (as in the line “eleven, twelve, dig and delve,” from the nursery rhyme that begins “one, two, buckle my shoe”) redundant? Not necessarily. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in some local uses, dig was the term for working with a mattock (a tool similar to an adze or a pick), while delve was reserved for work done using a spade. Although delve has a history of use for literal digging, nowadays the term is often applied to carefully researching or examining something, as in “delving into the past.”
Examples of delve in a Sentence
Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 20 May 2025
The conversation, led by Lindsay Peoples, delved into the evolving intersection of sport, fashion, and identity, a topic Harrison is no stranger to.
—Karissa Mitchell, Essence, 19 May 2025
Two years later, Starz announced that Origins — which would delve into Ghost and Tommy’s backstories, and presumably follow the events of Raising Kanan — was in the works, and remains in active development as of press time.
—Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 16 May 2025
The collection comes after an announcement last year that Crocs was looking to delve deeper into the accessories realm with the help of a licensing deal with Concept One Accessories.
—Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for delve
Cite this Entry
“Delve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/delve. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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