Inquire vs Delve - What's the difference?
inquire | delve |
(lb) To ask (about something).
To make an inquiry or an investigation.
*
*:"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day.A strong man—a strong one; and a heedless." ΒΆ "Of what party is he?" she inquired , as though casually.
To dig the ground, especially with a shovel.
* 1381 , John Ball
* Dryden
*
(ambitransitive) To search thoroughly and carefully for information, research, dig into, penetrate, fathom, trace out
* 1609-11 , Shakespeare, Cymbeline, King of Britain
* 1943 , Emile C. Tepperman, Calling Justice, Inc.!
(ambitransitive) To dig, to excavate.
* ca. 1260 , Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend
* 1891 , , The White Company , chapter IV
A pit or den.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iii:
As verbs the difference between inquire and delve
is that inquire is (lb) to ask (about something) while delve is to dig the ground, especially with a shovel.As a noun delve is
a pit or den.inquire
English
Alternative forms
* enquire (chiefly British)Verb
(intransitive'' or ''transitive )Usage notes
* In British English, the spelling enquire' is more common, with '''inquire''' often reserved for official inquests. In Canada and the US, both spellings are acceptable, though ' inquire is favored.Synonyms
* (l)Derived terms
* inquire after * inquire ofSee also
* inquest * inquisition * inquisitive * inquisitor English reporting verbs ----delve
English
Verb
- When Adam dalf and Eve span, / Who was then a gentleman?
- 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.
- I cannot delve him to the root.
- She was intensely eager to delve into the mystery of Mr. Joplin and his brief case.
- And then they made an oratory behind the altar, and would have dolven for to have laid the body in that oratory ...
- Let him take off his plates and delve' himself, if ' delving must be done.
Synonyms
* (to dig the ground) dig * (to search thoroughly) investigate, researchDerived terms
* delver * indelveNoun
(en noun)- 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 [...].