excavation

Definition

The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.

Etymology

From Latin excavātiō (“a hollowing out”), from excavō (“I hollow out”), from ex + cavō (“I hollow out”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“vault, hole”).

Example Sentences

• "Near-synonyms: hollowing out, hollowing"
• "Prof. Dainelli made a personal study of the lakes of the Upper Indus lying between its confluence with the Gilgit on the west and the plains of Kashmir on the east. From this district he cites fifty lakes and groups of lakes. Many of these are moraine-dammed, but some of the larger ones, as the Satpor Tso, the Tso Moriri, the Chiun Tso, and the group of lakes associated with the Pángong Tso, he considers to have originated by glacial excavation."
• "[…] to cart away the excavations from the work, and to recart the same back again so far as required to fill the trench over the sewer […]"