cavern
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English caverne, from Old French caverne, from Latin caverna, from cavus (“hollow”).
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kăv'ən, IPA(key): /ˈkæv.ən/
- (General American) enPR: kăv'ərn, IPA(key): /ˈkæv.ɚn/
- Rhymes: -ævə(ɹ)n
NounEdit
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: Printed for John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, OCLC 1380031, 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.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
large cave
|
underground chamber
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
VerbEdit
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.
- catacombs caverning the hillsides
- (transitive) To put into a cavern.