excavation

[Fr., from Lat. excavatio, from excavatus, pa. par. of excavo =to hollow out: ex =out. fully, and cavo = to hollow.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. The act of making hollow by excavating, dig-ging, or scooping out the interior of. 2. The act of digging or scooping out. "By excavation of certain sinus and tracts of the earth."-Hale: Orig. of Mankind , p. 299. 1723 *ex-çe-ca-tion, s . [Lat. excæcatio , from excæca tus , pa. par. of excæco .] 1. The act of making blind. excellently Crabb thus discriminates between to excel, to exceed, to surpa , to transcend , and to outdo : " Ex ceed, in its límited acceptation, conveys no idea of moral desert; surpa and excel are always taken good sense. It is not so much persons as things *ex-çed-ent, a. & 8. [Lat. excedo to go out, to which exceed ; both persons and things surpa ; 2. The state of being blind; blindne . exceed.] A. As adj.: Exceeding, exce ive. B. As subst.: Exce . ěx-çeēd, *ex-cead, *ex-cede, *ex-ceede, v . t . & i . [Fr. excéder , from Lat. excedo to go out, to go beyond, to exceed: ex =out, and cedo =to go.] A. Transitive : 1. To go beyond; to be more or greater than. (1) Physically: In size, amount, extent, . persons only excel . One thing exceeds another, as the succe of an undertaking exceeds the expectations of the undertaker, or a man's exertions exceed his strength: one person surpa es another, as the English have surpa ed all other nations in the extent of their naval power. The derivatives ex ce ive and excellent have this obvious distinction between them, that the former always signifies ex ceeding in that which ought not to be exceeded ; and the latter exceeding in that where it is honorable to exceed: he who is habitually exce ive in any of his thickne ."- Woodward : On Fo ils . "Nor did any of the crusts much exceed half-an-inch in indulgences, must be insensible to the excellence of (2) Morally : In qualities, character, . 2. To pa beyond the limit or bounds of. "The charge of having exceeded the limits of his profe ional duty." -Macaulay: Hist . Eng . , ch. xiv. 3. To surpa , to excel, to transcend, to outdo. "Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth."-1 Kings х. 23. 4. To be too great for; to be or go beyond the power of; to surpa . "To be wise and love exceeds man's might." Shakesp.: Troilus and Cre ida, iii. 2. B. Intransitive : 1. To go too far; to go or pa beyond proper limits or bounds; to go to exce . "Remembering that we speak to God, in our reverence to whom we cannot po ibly exceed."-Taylor. 2. To go beyond any certain limit. "Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed ." Deut . xxv. 3. *3. To bear the greater proportion; to predominate; to be greater. "The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed." Shakesp.: Rape of Lucrece, 229. For the difference between to exceed and to ex cel , see EXCEL.