delve

[delv]

verb (used without object), delved, delv·ing.

to carry on intensive and thorough research for data, information, or the like; investigate: to delve into the issue of prison reform.

Archaic. to dig, as with a spade.

verb (used with object), delved, delv·ing.

Archaic. to dig; excavate.

Origin of delve

before 900; Middle English delven, Old English delfan; cognate with Dutch delven, Old High German telban

Related formsdelv·er, nounun·delved, adjective

Synonyms for delve

1. research, inquire, probe, examine, explore.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for delver

Historical Examples of delver

It has been the delver of its own channel through the barrier of the Kirchet.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2
John Tyndall
Frost was the agent, ice was his delver, water his carrier, and the basin of Lake Ontario his dumping-ground.
The Falls of Niagara and Other Famous Cataracts
George W. Holley
Idler on its modern surface, or delver in its deep-hearted past, could he reconcile himself to it?
Indian Summer
William D. Howells
Any comparison between the material comfort of a Kentucky slave and an English ditcher and delver would be preposterous.
North America, Volume II (of 2)
Anthony Trollope
At this point the farmer slipped, the hedge rustled, and the delver fled away.
Studies in the Out-Lying Fields of Psychic Science
Hudson Tuttle

British Dictionary definitions for delver

delve

verb (mainly intr; often foll by in or into)

to inquire or research deeply or intensively (for information, etc)he delved in the Bible for quotations

to search or rummage (in a drawer, the pockets, etc)

(esp of an animal) to dig or burrow deeply (into the ground, etc)

(also tr) archaic, or dialect to dig or turn up (earth, a garden, etc), as with a spade

Derived Formsdelver, noun

Word Origin for delve

Old English delfan; related to Old High German telban to dig, Russian dolbit to hollow out with a chisel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for delver

delve

Old English delfan "to dig" (class III strong verb; past tense dealf, past participle dolfen), common West Germanic verb (cf. Old Saxon delban, Dutch delven, Middle High German telben "to dig"), from PIE root *dhelbh- (cf. Lithuanian delba "crowbar," Russian dolbit', Czech dlabati, Polish dłubać "to chisel;" Russian dolotó, Czech dlato, Polish dłuto "chisel"). Weak inflections emerged 14c.-16c. Related: Delved; delving.