dive
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /daɪv/
rhymes: -aɪv
Forms: form: dives
form: diving
form: dived
form: dove
form: dived
form: dove
form: doven
form: diven
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: dive
form: dive
form: dived
form: dove
form: dive
form: divest
form: dived
form: dove
form: divedst
form: dives
form: diveth
form: dived
form: dove
form: dive
form: dived
form: dove
form: dive
form: dived
form: dove
form: dive
form: -
form: diving
form: dived
form: dove
form: doven
form: diven
Etymology: From Middle English diven, duven, from the merger of Old English dȳfan (“to dip, immerse”, transitive weak verb) (from Proto-Germanic *dūbijaną) and dūfan (“to duck, dive, sink, penetrate”, intransitive strong verb) (past participle ġedofen). Cognate with Icelandic dýfa (“to dip, dive”), Low German bedaven (“covered, covered with water”). See also deep, dip.
Senses: examples: text: He dove in the water to save her.
glosses: To swim under water.
examples: text: It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them.
ref: 1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic:
glosses: To jump into water head-first.
examples: text: to dive into home plate
glosses: To jump headfirst toward the ground or into another substance.
examples: text: [the Hammersmith & City at Paddington]: There it dived underground, eventually enabling its train services to run over, and be entangled with, the easterly extensions of the Metropolitan and the District.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 49:
glosses: To descend sharply or steeply.
glosses: To lose altitude quickly by pointing downwards, as with a bird or aircraft.
examples: text: She dove right in and started making improvements.
glosses: To undertake with enthusiasm.
raw_tags: with in
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To deliberately fall down after a challenge, imitating being fouled, in the hope of getting one's opponent penalised.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To leap while fielding to take a brilliant catch which usally results in a wicket and appreciation.
examples: text: To dive an infant either thrice or but once in Baptism
ref: 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
glosses: To cause to descend, dunk; to plunge something into water.
examples: text: The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of flame.
ref: 1668, John Denham, The Progress of Learning:
text: The green lane is the school-boy's friend, / Low leaves his quarrel apprehend, / […] / The brimming brook invites a leap, / He dives the hollow, climbs the steep.
ref: 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “May-Day”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 20:
glosses: To explore by diving; to plunge into.
examples: text: dive into the Concerns of all about them
ref: 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
text: Google says this lets AI Mode recommend more diverse sources, produce deeper answers to more complex queries, dives deeper – and you have the ability to ask follow-up questions.
ref: 2025 June 13, Thomas Germain, “Is Google about to destroy the web?”, in BBC:
glosses: To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore.