Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Excavation

Excavation , noun

[Latin excavatio: compare French excavation.]

1.
The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
2.
A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping.
A winding excavation. — Glover
3.
(a) (Engineering) An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel.
(b)
(Engineering) The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.
The delivery of the excavations at a distance of 250 feet. — E. L. Corthell