Delve
Delve , transitive verb
[Anglo-Saxon delfan to dig; akin to Old Saxon bidelban to bury, Dutch delven to dig, Middle High German telben, and possibly to English dale. Compare Delf a mine.]
1.
To dig; to open (the ground) as with a spade.
Delve of convenient depth your thrashing floor.
2.
To dig into; to penetrate; to trace out; to fathom.
I can not delve him to the root.
Delve , intransitive verb
To dig or labor with a spade, or as with a spade; to labor as a drudge.
Delve may I not: I shame to beg.
Delve , noun
[See Delve, transitive verb, and compare Delf a mine.]
A place dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave.
Which to that shady delve him brought at last.
The very tigers from their delves
Look out.