excavator
[eks-kuh-vey-ter]
- a person or thing that excavates.
- a power-driven machine for digging, moving, or transporting loose gravel, sand, or soil.
- a sharp, spoonlike instrument used for scraping out diseased tissue, as in dentistry.
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Origin of excavator
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for excavator
Contemporary Examples
Nearby, a yellow Caterpillar excavator sits idle next to an opening that once led into a cross-border tunnel.
Historical Examples
Of course Dr. Munro nowhere suggests that any excavator is the guilty “faker.”
The Clyde MysteryAndrew Lang
These have as yet been untouched by the spade of the excavator.
Biblical Geography and HistoryCharles Foster Kent
At one time the male, at another the female, is the excavator.
British Birds in their HauntsRev. C. A. Johns
Intuitively that excavator's sense of his defined the direction.
The Fortieth DoorMary Hastings Bradley
No doubt there is frequently new material discovered; the excavator may in a month's digging find stuff for years of speculation.
Problems in Greek historyJohn Pentland Mahaffy
excavator
- a powered machine for digging earth, gravel, sand, etc, esp a caterpillar tractor so equipped
- any person, animal, or thing that excavates
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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
excavator
(ĕk′skə-vā′tər)- An instrument, such as a sharp spoon or curette, used in scraping out pathological tissue.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.