English

Proper noun

Cave

1. A surname​.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: kāv, IPA^(key): /keɪv/
• Rhymes: -eɪv

Noun

cave ‎(plural caves)

A cliffside cave.

1. A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground, or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

   We found a cave on the mountainside where we could take shelter.‎

2. A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.
   • 1918, Edward Alfred Steiner, Uncle Joe's Lincoln, page 52:

     Every boy at one time or another has dug a cave; I suppose because ages and ages ago his ancestors had to live in caves, […]

3. A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.

   This wine has been aged in our cave for thirty years.‎

4. A place of retreat, such as a man cave.

   My room was a cozy cave where I could escape from my family.‎

5. (caving) A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.

   It was not strictly a cave, but a narrow fissure in the rock.‎

6. (nuclear physics) A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
   • 1986, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Radiation Alarms and Access Control Systems, ISBN 0913392847, page 45:

     These potential radiation fields or radioactive material levels may be the result of normal operations (ie, radiation in a target cave) […]

7. (drilling, uncountable) Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
   • 1951, James Deans Cumming, Diamond Drill Handbook, page 134:

     […] the casing can then be placed in the hole without encountering any cave and core drilling in rock can begin.

8. (mining) A collapse or cave-in.
   • 1885, Angelo Heilprin, Town Geology: The Lesson of the Philadelphia Rocks, page 79:

     The "breasts" of marble which unite the opposite lateral walls have been left standing in order to prevent a possible cave of the wall on either side.

9. (figuratively, also slang) The ****.
   • 1976, Chester Himes, My Life of Absurdity, page 59:

     Then without a word she lay on her back in the bed, her dark blond pubic hair rising about her dark wet cave like dried brush about a hidden spring.

10. (slang, politics, often "Cave") A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
    • 1964, Leon D. Epstein, British Politics in the Suez Crisis, page 125:

      Without joining the cave, Hyde had abstained both in December 1956 and May 1957.

11. (obsolete) Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
    • Francis Bacon

      the cave of the ear

Synonyms

• earthhole

Derived terms

• caveman
• cave painting
• cavewoman

Translations

Verb

cave ‎(third-person singular simple present caves, present participle caving, simple past and past participle caved)

Person caving.

1. To surrender.

   He caved under pressure.

2. To collapse.

   First the braces buckled, then the roof began to cave, then we ran.

3. To hollow out or undermine.

   The levee has been severely caved by the river current.

4. To engage in the recreational exploration of caves; to spelunk.

   I have caved from Yugoslavia to Kentucky.

   Let's go caving this weekend.

5. (mining) In room-and-pillar mining, to extract a deposit of rock by breaking down a pillar which had been holding it in place.

   The deposit is caved by knocking out the posts.

6. (mining, obsolete) To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
   • 1999, Andy Wood, The Politics of Social Conflict: The Peak Country, 1520-1770, ISBN 0521495547, page 319:

     As an indication of the miners' desperation in these years, the free miners of Wensley lowered themselves to caving for scraps of ore.

7. (obsolete) To dwell in a cave.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Derived terms

• block caving
• cave in
• caver
• caving hammer

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Latin cavē, second-person singular present active imperative of caveō ‎(“to beware”). Used at Eton College, Berkshire.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kāʹvē, IPA^(key): /ˈkeɪvi/
  • Rhymes: -eɪvi
• Homophone: cavy

Interjection

cave

1. (Britain, public school slang) look out!; beware!
   • 1989, Hugh Laurie as Lt. George, Private Plane (Blackadder Goes Forth), season 4, episode 4, written by Ben Elton & Richard Curtis:

     Ssh! Cave! Mum's the word! Not 'arf, or what?

Synonyms

• heads up, look out, watch it, see also Wikisaurus:heads up

Derived terms

• keep cave

Translations

Anagrams

• evac

French

Etymology 1

Borrowing from Latin cavus ‎(“concave; cavity”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kav/

Adjective

cave m, f ‎(plural caves)

1. Pitted.
2. Concave.
3. Cavernous.

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Late Latin cava, substantivized form of Latin cava, feminine of the adjective cavus.

Noun

cave f ‎(plural caves)

1. A cellar or basement.
2. (specifically) A wine cellar; or, a piece of furniture that serves the purpose of a wine cellar.
3. (by extension) A wine selection.
4. caves: An estate where wine grapes are grown or (especially) where wine is produced.
5. cave à liqueurs: A chest for the storage of liquors.

Etymology 3

Probably from cavé, from the past participle of caver, a term used in games.

Noun

cave m ‎(plural caves)

1. (Quebec, slang) An imbecile, a stupid person.

Anagrams

• avec

Italian

Adjective

cave

1. feminine plural of cavo

Noun

cave f

1. plural of cava

Latin

Verb

cavē

1. second-person singular present imperative of caveō
   • Petronius:

     Cave canem.

     Beware of the dog.

Norman

Noun

cave f ‎(plural caves)

1. (Jersey) cave, cellar

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -avi

Noun

cave m (plural caves)

1. cellar

Verb

cave

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of cavar
3. third-person singular imperative of cavar

Spanish

Verb

cave

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of cavar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of cavar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of cavar.