cavernn.
/ˈkavən/ 1. A hollow place under ground; a subterranean (or submarine) cavity; a cave.The French caverne is the exact equivalent of English cave; French cave is a subterranean hollow generally, a cellar, etc. In English, cave is the ordinary commonplace term, cavern is vaguer and more rhetorical, usually with associations of vastness, or indefiniteness of extent or limits.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [noun] > cave
covec950
denOE
cavec1220
rochea1300
spelunk13..
cavernc1374
cabin1377
speke1377
antruma1398
minea1398
thurse-house?c1450
crypt?a1475
vault1535
chamber1575
antre1585
underground1594
Peak1600
lustre?1615
open?1644
cunicle1657
subterranean1714
subterrane1759
loch1767
purgatory1797
vug1818
c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. iii. ix. 82 Þe crikes and þe cauernes of þe see yhidd in þe floodes.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xiv. lvi. 724 In cauernes myys and crepynge wormes maken here dennes and nestes.
1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy iv. xxxi In rochys harde, and in kauernes lowe.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. i. 80 Where wilt thou [sc. Conspiracie] finde a Cauerne darke enough, To maske thy monstrous Visage? View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 57 In hollow Caverns Vermine make abode. View more context for this quotation
1752 S. Johnson Rambler No. 33. ⁋5 I will teach you to..bring out from the caverns of the mountains metals.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 23 Mountains of the earth, the caverns of the ocean.
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc i. 293 A spacious cavern, hewn amid The entrails of the earth.
1817 T. Moore Lalla Rookh 209 Terrific caverns gave Dark welcome to each stormy wave.
1863 A. P. Stanley Lect. Jewish Church I. xv. 350 Vast caverns open in the mountain side.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [noun] > depression or cavity
pita1275
holec1300
cella1398
den1398
follicle?a1425
purse?a1425
pocketa1450
fossac1475
cystis1543
trench1565
conceptory1576
vesike1577
vesicle1578
vault1594
socket1601
bladderet1615
cistern1615
cavern1626
ventricle1641
bladder1661
antrum1684
conceptaculum1691
capsule1693
cellule1694
loculus1694
sinus1704
vesicula1705
vesica1706
fosse1710
pouch1712
cyst1721
air chamber1725
fossula1733
alveole1739
sac1741
sacculus1749
locule1751
compartment1772
air cell1774
fossule1803
umbilicus1811
conceptacle1819
cœlia1820
utricle1822
air sac1835
saccule1836
ampulla1845
vacuole1853
scrobicule1880
faveolus1882
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §263 The cauerne and structure of the Eare.
1729 G. Shelvocke, Jr. tr. K. Siemienowicz Great Art Artillery ii. 108 Being reduced to a fine Meal, it [Gunpowder] loses all its little Caverns or Pores.
1772 W. Buchan Domest. Med. (ed. 2) xlv. 596 The small spungy bones of the upper jaw, the caverns of the forehead.
Compounds
C1. Generalattributive.
cavern bone n.
ΚΠ
1831 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. iii. 172 The theoretical conclusions that have been deduced from cavern bones.
cavern-door n.
ΚΠ
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. ix. 478 [They] croud the cavern door.
cavern floor n.
ΚΠ
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. ix. 434 Like whelps against his cavern-floor he dashed them.
cavern-house n.
cavern-pagoda n.
cavern-temple n.
ΚΠ
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xvi. 276 The gates of the old cavern temples.
cavern well n.
C2.
cavernhold n. after household.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1873 M. Collins Miranda I. 185 The various rude household or cavernhold implements which the Troglodyte had used.
cavern-like adj.
ΚΠ
1858 N. Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Jrnls. (1872) I. 30 A cavern-like gloom.
cavern-limestone n. ‘the carboniferous limestone of Kentucky, so called from the innumerable caves which its hard strata contain’ (Bartlett).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
cavernv.
/ˈkavən/ 1. transitive. To enclose or ensconce as in a cavern.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > enclosing or enclosure > enclose [verb (transitive)] > in or as in other specific receptacle or enclosure
casea1525
to case up1566
chamber1568
bag1570
embower1580
cistern1587
bower1599
casket1603
entemple1603
immould1610
incavern1611
incave1615
chest1616
enchest1632
intrunk1633
labyrinth1637
caverna1640
cabinetc1642
ark1644
to box in1745
lantern1789
cauldron1791
cave1816
pocket1833
castle1871
a1640 T. Risdon Chorogr. Surv. Devon (1811) (modernized text) §215 225 The river is gathered into such a streight..that it seemeth to cavern itself.
1805 R. Southey Madoc ii. xiii. 300 Now the child From light and life is caverned.
1822 Ld. Byron Werner ii. ii. 351 Sickness sits cavern'd in his hollow eye.
2. To hollow out, so as to form a cavern.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [verb (transitive)] > make into cave
cave1596
cavern1853
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xlvii. 438 The sharpness and boldness of the lines where they were caverned and cloven down.
1860 R. W. Emerson Considerations in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 232 The dungeons..dug and caverned out by grumbling..people.
1887 Scribner's Mag. 2 452 Places of exit of the caverning streams.
3. intransitive. To lurk in a cavern; to den.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > lurking, skulking > lurk, skulk [verb (intransitive)]
loutc825
atlutienc1000
darec1000
lotea1200
skulk?c1225
lurkc1300
luskc1330
tapisc1330
lurchc1420
filsnec1440
lour?c1450
slink?c1550
mitch1558
jouk1575
scout1577
scult1622
meecha1625
tappy1706
slive1707
slinge1747
snake1818
cavern1860
1860 S. T. Dobell in Macmillan's Mag. Aug. 326 Where the last deadliest rout Of furies cavern, to cast out Those Dæmons.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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