From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcavecave1 /keɪv/ ●●○ noun [countable] DNa large natural hole in the side of a cliff or hill, or under the ground → caving the entrance to a cave
Examples from the Corpus
cave• One day he heard a noise coming from a cave.• She'd feel safer trapped in a cave, with some dark formless danger lurking in the shadows.• It was inside a cave, but bigger than any cave had a right to be.• The largest system is the Lancaster-Easegill complex where there are around 30 miles of cave passages.• We pass rocky beaches, secret inlets, muddy coves, dark hidden sea caves pounded by surf.• He spent many nights sleeping in an open orchard in torrential rain until he located a small cave.• Only a few of us knew about the cave.• He looked inside the cave and saw a lion.cavecave2 verb → cave in→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
cave• Sixty foot drops are not really much to write home about when some one's been caving as long as he has.• Will Grijalva cave in and go with Postil?• In October, on 3 October 1985, I was feeling so depressed I thought the walls were caving in on me.• It is clear that the walls around the governor are caving in.• Newport looked poised to run away with it, but Bridgend refused to cave in.Origin cave1 (1200-1300) Old French Latin cava, from cavus “hollow” cave2 (1700-1800) Probably from calve “to cave in” ((18-19 centuries)), perhaps from Flemish inkalven; influenced by → CAVE1 