cavern
English
Etymology
From Middle English caverne, borrowing from Old French caverne, from Latin caverna (“hollow, cavity, cave”), from cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kăv'ən, IPA(key): /ˈkav.ən/, /ˈkav.n̩/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) enPR: kăv'ərn, IPA(key): /ˈkæv.ɚn/, /ˈkæv.ɹən/
- Rhymes: -ævə(ɹ)n
Noun
cavern (plural caverns)
- A large cave.
- An underground chamber.
- 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 55:
- In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.
- A large, dark place or space.
- a dark cavern of a shop
Derived terms
Translations
large cave
|
underground chamber
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
cavern (third-person singular simple present caverns, present participle caverning, simple past and past participle caverned)
- (transitive) To form a cavern or deep depression in.
- Synonym: hollow
- catacombs caverning the hillsides
- (transitive) To put into a cavern.
References
- “cavern”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “cavern”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.