Excavate

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·vt To dig out and remove, as earth.

II. Excavate ·vt To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel.

III. Excavate ·vt To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball; to excavate the earth.