dive

Pronunciation

• IPA: /daɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English diven, earlier dialectal duven,^[2][3] inherited from Old English dūfan (“to dive, duck, sink”), an intransitive strong verb, merged with dȳfan, to dip, submerge, a weak transitive verb,^[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *dūbijanan,^[2] related to deep and dip,^[6][5] from PIE *dʰewb-, deep, hollow.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To plunge into water: before 1000 in the OED;^[7] diven about 1250 in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the merger the weak forms prevailed, and the strong ones were obsolete by 1300.^[4][2] The past tense dove emerged in the 19th century, perhaps on the analogy of drive, drove;^[4] Bartlett (1859) noted it as an Americanism common among seamen, and it was reported in Canadian English in 1857 and used by Longfellow in Hiawatha (1855).^[4] To plunge into the earth or an abyss is from before 1225.^[7] The noun, a headfirst plunge or sudden swoop, is from 1700.^[4][3] A disreputable bar or club is American by 1871, perhaps because such places were often in basements;^[4] Hoad links it to the verb's sense dart out of sight.^[5] Of a submarine, to submerge, it is from 1872, and of an aircraft from 1908.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1000 – to plunge into water.^[7]
• c. 1250 – diven.^[2]
• 1700 – the noun.^[4]
• 1855 – dove, in Longfellow.^[4]
• 1871 – a low bar.^[4]
• 1908 – of aircraft.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To plunge headfirst into water.
2. To go under water, as a submarine or a scuba diver.
3. Of an aircraft, to descend steeply.
4. To rush or reach quickly, as in a plunge.

Noun

1. A plunge into water, especially headfirst.
2. A steep descent through the air, or a sudden drop.
3. (informal) A shabby or disreputable bar or club.

Word family

• crash-dive
• dive-bomb
• divemaster
• diver
• nose-dive
• postdive
• predive
• skin-dive

Related words

• deep
• dip
• dove

Usage notes

Collins gives dove as the American past tense beside dived.^[8] In Scots an obsolete noun dive was the putrid moisture that issues from the mouth and nostrils of a dead person.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)