Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He admitted to the Committee that he had not been aware of many of the faults which the investigators had spaded up at Lockland, that "we weren't doing a job in some respects."
From Time Magazine Archive
I was spading up a place for a garden in front of The Dump, and I’m not lying, this was hard work, since no one had spaded up this ground since forever.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
By mid-afternoon I had spaded quite a sizable garden plot.
From Neighbours by Robert J. C. Stead
She found her sister very tired, but, proudly anxious to show a little spot, perhaps six feet; square, which she had spaded up with intervals of rest.
From Hillsboro People by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Aunt Milla could see to do considerable work in their little garden patch, that some of the younger men among them had spaded for her.
From A Woman's Life-Work — Labors and Experiences by Laura S. Haviland
