excavator

[ eks-kuh-vey-ter ]

noun

1. a person or thing that excavates.
2. a power-driven machine for digging, moving, or transporting loose gravel, sand, or soil.
3. a sharp, spoonlike instrument used for scraping out diseased tissue, as in dentistry.

Word History and Origins

Origin of excavator¹

First recorded in 1805–15; excavate + -or ²

Example Sentences

Onlookers glued themselves to the corner to watch for the excavator as it came down on their house.

From BBC

There, Boudreaux said, they found another backhoe and an excavator that had been reported stolen from Kings County.

From Los Angeles Times

Down below, excavators, cranes and graders were building a bluff where a new border wall will join an existing 30-foot wall the Trump administration spent billions of dollars to erect.

From Los Angeles Times

The excavator inched after them, its roar slowly fading down the mountain.

From Los Angeles Times

Rescue workers, wreathed in smoke, stood by a pair of excavators digging through a mountain of rubble — the wreckage of an eight-story, 16-apartment building.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• backhoe
• bulldozer
• digger