noun
- a heavy, flat-bladed, long-handled tool used for digging by pressing the metal blade into the ground with the foot
- any of several tools resembling a spade
- a part of the trail of a gun carriage which digs into the ground, so as to brace the gun during recoil
Origin:
ME < OE spadu, akin to Ger spaten < IE base *spē-, long flat piece of wood > spoon, Gr spathē
transitive verb, intransitive verb spaded, spading
to dig or cut with or as with a spade