CAVERN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cavern mean? 

• CAVERN (noun)
  The noun CAVERN has 2 senses:

1. any large dark enclosed space

2. a large cave or a large chamber in a cave

  Familiarity information: CAVERN used as a noun is rare.

• CAVERN (verb)
  The verb CAVERN has 1 sense:

1. hollow out as if making a cavern

  Familiarity information: CAVERN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAVERN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any large dark enclosed space

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

his eyes were dark caverns

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

enclosure; natural enclosure (a naturally enclosed space)

Derivation:

cavern (hollow out as if making a cavern)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large cave or a large chamber in a cave

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

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

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

Instance hyponyms:

Carlsbad Caverns (a group of caverns in southeastern New Mexico noted for their stalactites and stalagmites)

Derivation:

cavern (hollow out as if making a cavern)

cavernous (being or suggesting a cavern)

• CAVERN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hollow out as if making a cavern

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cavern; cavern out

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

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

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

cavern (any large dark enclosed space)

 Context examples 

There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

When the smoke had circled about the cavern, suddenly a little black dwarf stood before him, and said: Lord, what are your commands?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Bowing with the air of one accustomed to public praise, he stole to the cavern and ordered Hagar to come forth with a commanding, "What ho, minion! I need thee!"

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Miss Mills was more than usually pensive when Dora, going to find her, brought her back;—I apprehend, because there was a tendency in what had passed to awaken the slumbering echoes in the caverns of Memory.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So clearly could one see cañon, gorge, and precipice, and the shadows that lie therein, that one looked unconsciously for the white surf-line and bellowing caverns where the sea charges on the land.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As we had no desire to draw the attention of the Indians to our proceedings, we stumbled along in the dark until we had gone round several curves and penetrated a considerable distance into the cavern.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Jekyll (who was composite) now with the most sensitive apprehensions, now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the pleasures and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll, or but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers the cavern in which he conceals himself from pursuit.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The giant said: “If you are such a valiant fellow, come with me into our cavern and spend the night with us.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

That sagacious Miss Mills, too; that amiable, though quite used up, recluse; that little patriarch of something less than twenty, who had done with the world, and mustn't on any account have the slumbering echoes in the caverns of Memory awakened; what a kind thing she did!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The indications would be consistent with the presence of a saber-toothed tiger, such as are still found among the breccia of our caverns; but the creature actually seen was undoubtedly of a larger and more reptilian character.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)