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Delve vs Dive - What's the difference?

delve | dive |

As verbs the difference between delve and dive

is that delve is to dig the ground, especially with a shovel while dive is to swim under water.

As nouns the difference between delve and dive

is that delve is a pit or den while dive is a jump or plunge into water.

delve

English

Verb

  • To dig the ground, especially with a shovel.
  • * 1381 , John Ball
    • When Adam dalf and Eve span, / Who was then a gentleman?
  • * Dryden
    • Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.
  • *
    • I got a spade from the tool-house, and began to delve with all my might - it scraped the coffin; I fell to work with my hands; the wood commenced cracking about the screws; I was on the point of attaining my object, when it seemed that I heard a sigh from some one above, close at the edge of the grave, and bending down.
  • (ambitransitive) To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
  • * 1609-11 , Shakespeare, Cymbeline, King of Britain
    • I cannot delve him to the root.
  • * 1943 , Emile C. Tepperman, Calling Justice, Inc.!
    • She was intensely eager to delve into the mystery of Mr. Joplin and his brief case.
  • (ambitransitive) To dig, to excavate.
  • * ca. 1260 , Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend
    • And then they made an oratory behind the altar, and would have dolven for to have laid the body in that oratory ...
  • * 1891 , , The White Company , chapter IV
    • Let him take off his plates and delve' himself, if ' delving must be done.

    Synonyms

    * (to dig the ground) dig * (to search thoroughly) investigate, research

    Derived terms

    * delver * indelve

    Related terms

    * dolven

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pit or den.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iii:
    • the wise Merlin whylome wont (they say) / To make his wonne, low vnderneath the ground, / In a deepe delue , farre from the vew of day [...].

    Anagrams

    * ----

    dive

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) diven, duven, from the merger of (etyl) . See also (l), (l).

    Verb

  • To swim under water.
  • To jump into water head-first.
  • * Whately
    • It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them.
  • To descend sharply or steeply.
  • (especially with in ) To undertake with enthusiasm.
    • She dove right in and started making improvements.
  • (sports) To deliberately fall down after a challenge, imitating being fouled, in the hope of getting one's opponent penalised.
  • To cause to descend, dunk; to plunge something into water.
    • (Hooker)
  • To explore by diving; to plunge into.
  • * Denham
    • The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of fame.
  • * Emerson
    • He dives the hollow, climbs the steeps.
  • (figurative) To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore.
    • (South)
    Usage notes
    The past tense dove'' is found chiefly in North American English, where it is used alongside the regular (and earlier) ''dived'', with regional variations; in British English ''dived'' is the standard past tense, ''dove'' existing only in some dialects. As a past participle, ''dove'' is relatively rare. (Compare ''Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary''; ''The American Heritage Dictionary''; ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage )
    Related terms
    * scuba diving * duck dive

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A jump or plunge into water.
  • A swim under water.
  • A decline.
  • (slang) A seedy bar, nightclub, etc.
  • (aviation) Aerial descend with the nose pointed down.
  • (sports) A deliberate fall after a challenge.
    • Related terms
    * divebomb * nosedive * swandive/swan-dive/swan dive

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl); see diva.

    Noun

    (head)

    • Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs ----