Cave word meaning and definition

[noun] an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea
[verb] explore natural caves
[verb] hollow out as if making a cave or opening; "The river was caving the banks"

\Cave\ (k[=a]v), n. [F. cave, L. cavus hollow, whence cavea cavity. Cf. {Cage}.] 1. A hollow place in the earth, either natural or artificial; a subterraneous cavity; a cavern; a den. 2. Any hollow place, or part; a cavity. [Obs.] ``The cave of the ear.'' --Bacon. {Cave bear} (Zo["o]l.), a very large fossil bear ({Ursus spel[ae]us}) similar to the grizzly bear, but large; common in European caves. {Cave dweller}, a savage of prehistoric times whose dwelling place was a cave. --Tylor. {Cave hyena} (Zo["o]l.), a fossil hyena found abundanty in British caves, now usually regarded as a large variety of the living African spotted hyena. {Cave lion} (Zo["o]l.), a fossil lion found in the caves of Europe, believed to be a large variety of the African lion. {Bone cave}. See under {Bone}.
\Cave\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Caved}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Caving}.] [Cf. F. caver. See {Cave}, n.] To make hollow; to scoop out. [Obs.] The mouldred earth cav'd the banke. --Spenser.
\Cave\, v. i. 1. To dwell in a cave. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. [See To cave in, below.] To fall in or down; as, the sand bank caved. Hence (Slang), to retreat from a position; to give way; to yield in a disputed matter. {To cave in}. [Flem. inkalven.]
(a) To fall in and leave a hollow, as earth on the side of a well or pit.
(b) To submit; to yield. [Slang] --H. Kingsley.
\Cave\, n. (Eng. Politics) A coalition or group of seceders from a political party, as from the Liberal party in England in 1866. See {Adullam}, {Cave of}, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

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