spading

Variant of spade

spade definition

spade (spād)

noun

  1. a heavy, flat-bladed, long-handled tool used for digging by pressing the metal blade into the ground with the foot
  2. any of several tools resembling a spade
  3. a part of the trail of a gun carriage which digs into the ground, so as to brace the gun during recoil

Etymology: ME < OE spadu, akin to Ger spaten < IE base *spē-, long flat piece of wood > spoon, Gr spathē

transitive verb, intransitive verb spaded spad′ed, spading spad′·ing

to dig or cut with or as with a spade

Related Forms:

spade Idioms

call a spade a spade

to call something by its right name; use plain, blunt words

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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