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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
David Morgan, CBS News, 28 Nov. 2025
Jamie is an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer who has written extensively for Space, reviewing skywatching equipment, delving into the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses and much more.
—Chris McMullen, Space.com, 28 Nov. 2025
While much of her early music didn’t delve into politics, her widespread influence and affiliation with the Shah resulted in brief imprisonments, interrogations, confiscations and, most permanently, a ban on singing and performing in Iran.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2025
One comes from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the Legislature’s advisor on the state budget, delving into the astronomic costs of buying a home.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 26 Nov. 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 29 Nov. 2025.
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