Word of the Day

: May 12, 2007

delve

verb DELV

What It Means

1 : to dig or labor with or as if with a spade

2 : to make a careful or detailed search for information

delve in Context

There might be a deeper reason why Bruce decided to quit his job, but I don't think we should delve into it.

Did You Know?

We must dig deep into the English language's past to find the origins of "delve." The verb originated in 9th century Old English as "delfan" and is related to the Old High German word "telban," meaning "dig." For some 400 years, there was only delving -- no digging -- because "dig" didn't exist until the 13th century. 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 as recently as the late 19th century, "dig" was the term for working with a mattock (a tool similar to an adze or a pick), while "delve" was reserved for using a spade.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.