CAVE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cave mean? 

• CAVE (noun)
  The noun CAVE has 1 sense:

1. a geological formation consisting of an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea

  Familiarity information: CAVE used as a noun is very rare.

• CAVE (verb)
  The verb CAVE has 2 senses:

1. hollow out as if making a cave or opening

2. explore natural caves

  Familiarity information: CAVE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A geological formation consisting of an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("cave" is a kind of...):

formation; geological formation ((geology) the geological features of the earth)

Meronyms (parts of "cave"):

floor (the lower inside surface of any hollow structure)

roof (the inner top surface of a covered area or hollow space)

stalactite (a cylinder of calcium carbonate hanging from the roof of a limestone cave)

stalagmite (a cylinder of calcium carbonate projecting upward from the floor of a limestone cave)

wall (a vertical (or almost vertical) smooth rock face (as of a cave or mountain))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cave"):

cavern (a large cave or a large chamber in a cave)

cove (small or narrow cave in the side of a cliff or mountain)

grot; grotto (a small cave (usually with attractive features))

Instance hyponyms:

Fingal's Cave (a large cave with basaltic pillars on Staffa island in Scotland)

Lascaux (a cave in southwestern France that contains Paleolithic paintings)

Derivation:

cave (explore natural caves)

• CAVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cave    ... he / she / it caves   
Past simple: caved   
Past participle: caved   
-ing form: caving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hollow out as if making a cave or opening

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cave; undermine

Context example:

The river was caving the banks

Hypernyms (to "cave" is one way to...):

core out; hollow; hollow out (remove the interior of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cave"):

sap (excavate the earth beneath)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Explore natural caves

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

cave; spelunk

Hypernyms (to "cave" is one way to...):

explore (travel to or penetrate into)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

cave (a geological formation consisting of an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea)

 Context examples 

A full stomach conduces to inaction, and the cub lay in the cave, sleeping against his mother's side.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As the receding wave swept back with a hoarse roar, it seemed to scoop out deep caves in the beach, as if its purpose were to undermine the earth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The dwarf sprang up in a fright, but he could not reach his cave, for the bear was already close.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I lay all night in the cave where I had lodged my provisions.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

They were perfectly cut and deposited in containers of varying sizes that were made of different materials (metal, leather and even wood), which were then hidden in specific parts of the cave.

(Hair was dyed for first time as part of funeral rituals, University of Granada)

Who can follow an animal which can traverse the sea of ice and inhabit caves and dens where no man would venture to intrude?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Remains of food and other materials left in caves inhabited by pack rats which are preserved and serve as a "time capsule" of the vegetation of the time and, by extension, the climate.

(Pack rat middens, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

As we passed the two-pointed hill, we could see the black mouth of Ben Gunn's cave and a figure standing by it, leaning on a musket.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“The hero of the Long Island cave mystery?” said Holmes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)