dig out

verb

dug out; digging out; digs out

transitive verb

1

: find, unearth

2

: to make hollow by digging

intransitive verb

: take off sense 1a

Synonyms

• ascertain
• descry
• detect
• determine
• dig up
• discover
• dredge (up)
• ferret (out)
• find
• find out
• get
• hit (on or upon)
• hunt (down or up)
• learn
• locate
• nose out
• root (out)
• rout (out)
• rummage
• run down
• scare up
• scout (up)
• track (down)
• turn up

Examples of dig out in a Sentence

she dug her old art supplies out of the basement

without saying where she was going, the young woman dug out early the next morning

Recent Examples on the Web

Storms loom after record-breaking snow in Las Vegas, other cities The atmospheric river approaching the northern West Coast is set to arrive as residents in some areas were still digging out of record-breaking snowfall wrought by a winter storm last week. —Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 11 Nov. 2024

But don't go digging out your hundred-year-old light bulbs from the closet just yet, there's still more work to be done. —New Atlas, 24 Dec. 2024

In upstate New York, people were digging out after heavy snow fell. —CBS News, 15 Dec. 2024

The most intense bouts of lake-effect snow will come to an end Tuesday, but some areas will only have about 24 hours or less to dig out before a storm sweeps through the region. —Mary Gilbert, CNN, 3 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1