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Cellar vs Cave - What's the difference?

cellar | cave |

As nouns the difference between cellar and cave

is that cellar is an enclosed underground space, often under a building; used for storage or shelter while cave is a large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground, or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.

As verbs the difference between cellar and cave

is that cellar is to store in a cellar while cave is to surrender.

As an interjection cave is

look out!; beware.

As a proper noun Cave is

{{surname}.

cellar

English

Alternative forms

* seller (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) celer, (etyl) celier (modern (cellier)), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • An enclosed underground space, often under a building; used for storage or shelter.
  • A wine collection, especially when stored in a cellar.
  • (slang) Last place in a competition.
  • (historical) A small dish for holding salt.
    • Derived terms
    * cellarage * cellarer * cellar dweller * cyclone cellar * root cellar * storm cellar * wine cellar

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To store in a cellar.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2008, date=June 25, author=Lucy Burningham, title=Beer Lovers Make Room for Brews Worth a Wait, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=Mr. VandenBerghe says he’s cellared such memorable bottles as the Batch 1 Adam from Hair of the Dog, a 14-year-old ale from Portland, Ore., that’s 10 percent alcohol, and the Trappistes Rochefort 10, a Quadrupel Belgian ale that peaks around age 10. }}

    Etymology 2

    From 15th Century English saler, from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • salt cellar

    • Anagrams

    * *

    cave

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl), from (etyl) ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground, or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
  • * , chapter=16
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The preposterous altruism too!
  • A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.
  • * {{quote-book, 1918, Edward Alfred Steiner, Uncle Joe's Lincoln citation
    • , passage=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,
  • A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.
  • A place of retreat, such as a man cave.
  • (caving) A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.
  • (nuclear physics) A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
  • * {{quote-book, 1986, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Radiation Alarms and Access Control Systems, page=45 citation
    • , passage=These potential radiation fields or radioactive material levels may be the result of normal operations (ie, radiation in a target cave )
  • (drilling, uncountable) Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
  • * {{quote-book, 1951, James Deans Cumming, Diamond Drill Handbook, page=134 citation
    • , passage=
  • (mining) A collapse or cave-in.
  • * {{quote-book, 1885, (Angelo Heilprin), Town Geology: The Lesson of the Philadelphia Rocks, page=79 citation
    • , passage=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.}}
  • The vagina.
  • * {{quote-book, 1976, (Chester Himes), My Life of Absurdity, page=59 citation
    • , passage=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.}}
  • A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
  • * {{quote-book, 1964, Leon D. Epstein, British Politics in the Suez Crisis, page=125 citation
    • , passage=Without joining the cave , Hyde had abstained both in December 1956 and May 1957.}}
  • (obsolete) Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • the cave of the ear
    Synonyms
    *
    Derived terms
    * caveman * cave painting * cavewoman

    Verb

    (cav)
  • To surrender.
    • He caved under pressure.
  • To collapse.
    • First the braces buckled, then the roof began to cave , then we ran.
  • To hollow out or undermine.
    • The levee has been severely caved by the river current.
  • To engage in the recreational exploration of caves; to spelunk.
    • I have caved from Yugoslavia to Kentucky.
    Let's go caving this weekend.
  • (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.
  • (mining, obsolete) To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
  • * {{quote-book, 1999, Andy Wood, The Politics of Social Conflict: The Peak Country, 1520-1770, page=319 citation
    • , passage=As an indication of the miners' desperation in these years, the free miners of Wensley lowered themselves to caving for scraps of ore. }}
  • (obsolete) To dwell in a cave.
    • (Shakespeare)
    Derived terms
    * block caving * cave in * caver * caving hammer

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (British, public school slang) look out!; beware!

    • Anagrams

    * ----