The material excavated was usually sand.
E. L. Corthell.
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.
Ex`ca*va"tion (?), n. [L. excavatio: cf. F. excavation.] 1. The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.
2. A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping. "A winding excavation." Glover.
3. (Engin.) (a) An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel. (b) The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.
The delivery of the excavations at a distance of 250 feet.
E. L. Corthell.
Ex"ca*va`tor (?), n. One who, or that which, excavates or hollows out; a machine, as a dredging machine, or a tool, for excavating.
Ex*cave" (?), v. t. [L. excavare.] To excavate. [Obs.] Cockeram.
Ex*ce"cate (?), v. t. [L. excaecatus, p. p. of excaecare to blind; ex (intens.) + caecare to blind, caecus blind.] To blind. [Obs.] Cockeram.
Ex`ce*ca"tion (?), n. The act of making blind. [Obs.] Bp. Richardson.
Ex*ced"ent (?), n. [L. excedens, -entis, p. pr. of excedere. See Exceed, v. t.] Excess. [R.]
Ex*ceed" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Exceeded; p. pr. & vb. n. Exceeding.] [L. excedere, excessum, to go away or beyond; ex out + cedere to go, to pass: cf. F. excéder. See Cede.] To go beyond; to proceed beyond the given or supposed limit or measure of; to outgo; to surpass; -- used both in a good and a bad sense; as, one man exceeds another in bulk, stature, weight, power, skill, etc.; one offender exceeds another in villainy; his rank exceeds yours.
Name the time, but let it not
Exceed three days.
Shak.
Observes how much a chintz exceeds mohair.
Pope.
Syn. -- To outdo; surpass; excel; transcend; outstrip; outvie; overtop.
Ex*ceed", v. i. 1. To go too far; to pass the proper bounds or measure. "In our reverence to whom, we can not possibly exceed." Jer. Taylor.
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed.
Deut. xxv. 3.