"having a body cavity distinct from the intestinal cavity," 1883, from Coelomata (1877), from Modern Latin neuter plural of coelomatus, from Greek koilomat- "hollow, cavity," from koilos "hollow, hollowed out, spacious, deep," from PIE root *keue- "to swell," also "vault, hole."
late 14c., "profound depth," from Old French golf "a gulf, whirlpool," from Italian golfo "a gulf, a bay," from Late Latin colfos, from Greek kolpos "bay, gulf of the sea," earlier "trough between waves, fold of a loose garment," originally "bosom," the common notion being "curved shape." This is from PIE *kuolp- "arch, curve, vault" (compare Old English hwealf"vault," a-hwielfan "to overwhelm," Old Norse holfinn "vaulted," Old High German welban "to vault").
Latin sinus underwent the same development, being used first for "bosom," later for "gulf" (and in Medieval Latin, "hollow curve or cavity in the body"). The geographic sense "large tract of water extending into the land" (larger than a bay, smaller than a sea, but the distinction is not exact and not always observed) is in English from c. 1400, replacing Old English sæ-earm. Figurative sense of "a wide interval" is from 1550s. The U.S. Gulf States so called from 1836. The Gulf Stream (1775) takes its name from the Gulf of Mexico.
"hut built by miners over a mine shaft," to store their equipment, etc., 1650s, from some source akin to Dutch kouw, German kaue in the same sense, from West Germanic *kauja-, an early borrowing of Latin cavea "hollow," from cavus "a hollow" (from PIE root *keue- "to swell," also "vault, hole").
"to hollow out, make hollow by digging or scooping, or by removing extraneous matter," 1590s, from Latin excavatus, past participle of excavare "to hollow out," from ex "out" (see ex-) + cavare "to hollow, hollow out," from cavus "cave" (from PIE root *keue- "to swell," also "vault, hole"). Related: Excavated; excavating.
c. 1200, "large outer garment, cloak, mantle," late 13c. in the specific ecclesiastical sense of "large mantle of silk or other material worn by priests or bishops over the alb on special occasions," from Medieval Latin capa "cloak," from Late Latin cappa (see cap (n.)). It was used figuratively for the "cloak" of night's darkness, from which it was extended to "vault of the sky" in the once-common poetic phrase cope of heaven (late 14c.).
late 14c., "roof of the mouth of a human or animal; the parts which separate the oral from the nasal cavity," from Old French palat and directly from Latin palatum "roof of the mouth," also "a vault," which is perhaps of Etruscan origin [Klein], but de Vaan suggests an IE root meaning "flat, broad, wide." It was popularly considered to be the seat of the sense of taste, hence transferred meaning "sense of taste" (late 14c.), which also was in classical Latin.
