Shovel Definition

shŭvəl
shoveled, shoveling, shovelled, shovelling, shovels
noun
shovels
A tool with a broad, deep scoop or blade and a long handle: used in lifting and moving loose material, as earth, snow, gravel, etc.
Webster's New World

Any machine, as a steam shovel, equipped with a large scoop or blade for lifting and moving loose material.

Webster's New World
The amount that a shovel can hold; a shovelful.
One shovel of dirt.
American Heritage
Webster's New World

(US) A spade.

Wiktionary
verb
shoveled, shoveling, shovelled, shovelling, shovels
To lift and move with a shovel.
Webster's New World
To use a shovel.
Webster's New World
To convey or throw in a rough or hasty way, as if with a shovel.
He shoveled the food into his mouth.
American Heritage
To put or throw, in large quantities.
To shovel food into one's mouth.
Webster's New World
To clean or dig out (a path, etc.) with a shovel.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Shovel

Noun

Singular:
shovel
Plural:
shovels

Origin of Shovel

  • From Middle English shovele, schovel, showell, shoule, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English scofl (“shovel"), from Proto-Germanic *skuflō, *skÅ«flō (“shovel"), equivalent to shove +"Ž -el (instrumental/agent suffix). Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel"), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel"), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel"), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe"), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel"), German Schaufel (“shovel"), Danish skovl (“shovel"), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel"), Icelandic skófla (“shovel").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English scofl

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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