cavo, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. cavus, to make hollow, to hollow out, excavate (class., but not in Cic.; for in Leg. 2, 18, 45, dicato is the correct reading, B. and K.): stillicidi casus lapidem cavat, Lucr. 1, 313; cf. Ov. M. 4, 525: naves ex arboribus, Liv. 21, 26, 9: arbore lintres, Verg. G. 1, 262: buxum, id. ib. 2, 450: dentes cavantur tabe pituitae, Plin. 7, 16, 15, § 70: luna cavans cornua (in waning), id. 8, 17, 23, § 63: parmam galeamque gladio, i. e. to pierce through, perforate, Ov. M. 12, 130: tegmina tuta cavant capitum, hollow out, poet. for round off, bend around, fabricate, Verg. A. 7, 632.

—Hence, cavātus, a, um, P. a., hollowed, excavated, hollow: alni, Verg. G. 1, 136: cortices, id. ib. 2, 387: rupes, id. A. 3, 229: anfracta aurium, Varr. ap. Non. p. 193, 3: oculi, Lucr. 6, 1194 (with cava tempora): vallis, Varr. L. L. 5, § 20 Mull.: torrens alibi aliter, Liv. 44, 35, 17.

—Comp.: sinus cavatior, Tert. adv. Herm. 29.