From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Excavate \Ex"ca*vate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Excavated}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Excavating}.] [L. excavatus, p. p. of excavare to
excavate; ex out + cavare to make hollow, cavus hollow. See
{Cave}.]
1. To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow
by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball;
to excavate the earth.
[1913 Webster]
2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything
that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a
channel.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Engin.) To dig out and remove, as earth.
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The material excavated was usually sand. --E. L.
Corthell.
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{Excavating pump}, a kind of dredging apparatus for
excavating under water, in which silt and loose material
mixed with water are drawn up by a pump. --Knight.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
excavate
v 1: recover through digging; "Schliemann excavated Troy";
"excavate gold" [syn: {excavate}, {unearth}]
2: find by digging in the ground; "I dug up an old box in the
garden" [syn: {excavate}, {dig up}, {turn up}]
3: form by hollowing; "Carnegie had a lake excavated for
Princeton University's rowing team"; "excavate a cavity"
4: remove the inner part or the core of; "the mining company
wants to excavate the hillside" [syn: {excavate}, {dig},
{hollow}]
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