dove in

John GrishamのTheodore Boone the Accusedを読んでいます。
Since nothing can make one hungrier than sitting in church and waiting for lunch, the group soon took their seats around the dining-room table. Judge Lusk gave a quick prayer of thanks, and a housekeeper appeared with the first course, a salad. A dry salad, Theo noted. Dressing wasn’t expensive, was it? Where was the dressing? But he dove in, starved.
この "dove in" が分かりませんでした。"dove" で鳩を連想したからです。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Help oneself to food.: If the food is placed on her tray, however, she dives in with both hands and eats with obvious enjoyment.
・Macmillan Dictionary: to start eating in a very enthusiastic way: Food’s on the table, just dive in!
・American Heritage Dictionary: To start eating eagerly: I'm getting hungry, I can't wait to dive in. Here's the pizza; dive in!
"dove" は "dive" の過去形でした。