All 3 Uses of
excavate
in
Moby Dick
- Seizing his sharp boat-spade, he commenced an excavation in the body, a little behind the side fin.†
Chpt 91-93 *
- The consequence is, that upon breaking into the hold, and unloading one of these whale cemeteries, in the Greenland dock, a savor is given forth somewhat similar to that arising from excavating an old city grave-yard, for the foundations of a Lying-in-Hospital.†
Chpt 91-93
- Among the more curious of such remains is part of a skull, which in the year 1779 was disinterred in the Rue Dauphine in Paris, a short street opening almost directly upon the palace of the Tuileries; and bones disinterred in excavating the great docks of Antwerp, in Napoleon's time.†
Chpt 103-105
Definition:
-
(excavate) to dig outin various senses, including:
- remove or lay bare -- as when removing top soil to lay a foundation
- find or uncover -- as at an archaeological site
- remove a part -- as a tooth from the gum that surrounds it