dig deep
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to try very hard or search thoroughly
Literally: excavate deeply
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
In this instance, I knew the young man's father would have to dig deep into his box before the marriage was finally consummated and the bride brought home.
Yet, when we dig a little deeper, we find simply another style of moral paternalism lies buried beneath the surface.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “dig deep” mean?
to try very hard or search thoroughly Literally: excavate deeply
Is “dig deep” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.