dig out

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dig out (third-person singular simple present digs out, present participle digging out, simple past and past participle dug out)

1. (transitive) To remove something by digging.

   The archaeologist dug out a Saxon dagger.

   Houdini not only got out of the ropes: he also dug himself out of the hole he had been buried in.

2. (transitive, sometimes figuratively) To find or retrieve something buried.

   I shall try to dig out my old textbooks.

   • 2011 February 13, Lyle Jackson, “Ireland 22-25 France”, in BBC‎:

     But Ireland dug out a gutsy response and applied pressure which resulted in number eight Heaslip diving over in the corner to revive home hopes.

3. (transitive) To make something by digging.

   We had to dig out our foxhole while under fire.

4. (intransitive, US, slang) To decamp; to leave a place hastily.
5. (transitive, slang) To have sexual intercourse with someone.

   I'd like to dig her out.

6. (transitive, cricket) To block a yorker with the bottom of the bat, at the last second.