cave
Americannoun
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a hollow in the earth, especially one opening more or less horizontally into a hill, mountain, etc.
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a storage cellar, especially for wine.
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English History. a secession, or a group of seceders, from a political party on some special question.
verb (used with object)
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to hollow out.
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Mining.
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to cause (overlying material) to fall into a stope, sublevel, or the like.
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to cause (supports, as stulls or sets) to collapse beneath overlying material.
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to fill (a stope or the like) with caved-in material.
sub-level caving.
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verb (used without object)
verb phrase
noun
noun
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an underground hollow with access from the ground surface or from the sea, often found in limestone areas and on rocky coastlines
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history a secession or a group seceding from a political party on some issue See Adullamite
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(modifier) living in caves
verb
Other Word Forms
- cavelike adjective
Etymology
Origin of cave
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Late Latin cava (feminine singular), Latin cava, neuter plural of cavum hole, noun use of neuter of cavus hollow
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On Thursday, Amodei signaled the company wouldn’t cave to the Department of Defense’s demands to loosen safety restrictions on its AI models.
From Los Angeles Times
The researchers discerned patterns of meaning in lines, notches, dots, and crosses on objects like mammoth tusks as old as 45,000 years in caves in Germany.
From BBC
International and specialist teams have since aided in the search that has stretched down caves, across rivers and into old mining huts.
From BBC
“According to this book, you prefer living in snow caves.”
From Literature
I could live all alone, in a mountain cave far away from anyone, and herd goats and live off their milk and whatever the land would give me.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
