excavations

Noun

excavation (countable and uncountable, plural excavations)

1. (uncountable) The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
   • Near-synonyms: hollowing out, hollowing

   Synonyms:

   hollowing out, hollowing

   1. Especially, the trade of digging engineered holes for building foundations, roadbed preparations, and similar purposes.
2. (countable) A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping.
   • Prof. Dainelli made a personal study of the lakes of the Upper Indus lying between its confluence with the Gilgit on the west and the plains of Kashmir on the east. From this district he cites fifty lakes and groups of lakes. Many of these are moraine-dammed, but some of the larger ones, as the...1924 March, E. J. Garwood, “Himalayan Glaciation”, in The Geographical Journal, volume LXIII, number 3, London: Royal Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 244
3. (countable) An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel.
4. (countable) The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.
   • […] to cart away the excavations from the work, and to recart the same back again so far as required to fill the trench over the sewer […]1878, N.Y. Supreme Court (page 4)
5. (uncountable) Archaeological research that unearths buildings, tombs and objects of historical value.

See all 9 meanings of excavation