dive

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪv/

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• Rhymes: -aɪv

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.

dive (third-person singular simple present dives, present participle diving, simple past dived or dove, past participle dived)

1. To swim under water.
2. To jump into water head-first.
   • Whately

     It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them.

3. To descend sharply or steeply.
4. (especially with in) To undertake with enthusiasm.

   She dove right in and started making improvements.

5. (sports) To deliberately fall down after a challenge, imitating being fouled, in the hope of getting one's opponent penalised.
6. To cause to descend, dunk; to plunge something into water.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hooker to this entry?)

7. (transitive) To explore by diving; to plunge into.
   • Denham

     The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of fame.

   • Emerson

     He dives the hollow, climbs the steeps.

8. (figuratively) To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)

The past tense dove is found chiefly in North American English, where it is used alongside the regular (and earlier) dived, with regional variations; in British English dived is the standard past tense, dove existing only in some dialects. Some speakers express uncertainty about what the past participle should be;[1] dove is relatively rare as a past participle. (Compare Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary; The American Heritage Dictionary; The Cambridge Guide to English Usage)

(See below)

dive (plural dives)

1. A jump or plunge into water.
2. A downward swooping motion.

   the dive of a hawk after prey

3. A swim under water.
4. A decline.
5. (slang) A seedy bar, nightclub, etc.
6. (aviation) Aerial descent with the nose pointed down.
7. (sports) A deliberate fall after a challenge.

(See below)

From Italian dive; see diva.

dive

1. plural of diva

• Devi, I'd've, vide, vidê, vied

• Rhymes: -ive

dive f

1. plural of diva

• devi
• vedi
• vide

dīve

1. vocative masculine singular of dīvus