delf

See also: DELF

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English delf (“a quarry, clay pit, hole; an artificial watercourse, a canal, a ditch, a trench; a grave; a pitfall”), from Old English delf, see below

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɛlf

Noun

delf (plural delves or delf)

  1. A mine, quarry, pit dug; ditch.
  2. (heraldry) A charge representing a square sod.
  3. Alternative form of delftware Delftware.
    • 1864, [Robert], “Mr. Sludge, "The Medium"”, in Wikisource, line 832‎, retrieved 2012-01-18:
      That's all—do what we do, but noblier done— / Use plate, whereas we eat our meals off delf, / (To use a figure).
    • 1941, Sarah Atherton, Mark's Own, Bobbs-Merrill:
      Men can't munch from meatless pots and doughless delf.

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for delf in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)

Verb

delf

  1. first-person singular present indicative of delven
  2. imperative of delven

Middle Dutch

Noun

delf ?

  1. Delft (a city)

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Further reading

  • “delf”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000

Old English

Etymology

From the verb delfan (“to delve, dig, dig out, burrow, bury”), from Proto-Germanic *delbaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelbʰ-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /delf/

Noun

delf n (nominative plural delf)

  1. digging, excavation; what is dug, trench, quarry, canal

Declension

Derived terms

  • delfere — digger
  • delfīsen — spade
  • delfung — digging
  • ġedelf — digging
  • lēadġedelf — lead-mine
  • underdelf — undermining
  • ymbġedelf — digging round
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.