spadeful

American  

[speyd-fool] / ˈspeɪd fʊl /

noun

plural

spadefuls

1. the amount that can be dug out with or carried on a spade.

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Etymology

Origin of spadeful

First recorded in 1635–45; spade ¹ + -ful

Example Sentences

There’s “nary a spadeful of dirt dug for a major development in Arlington that doesn’t have Art Walsh’s imprint on it,” The Washington Post wrote in 1982.

From Washington Post • Jun. 28, 2022

Were we in a fool’s paradise, an epoch of superb whisky that would end when the last spadeful of Scottish peat is dug up and flung into the furnaces?

From Slate • Apr. 11, 2013

They borrowed a shovel from one of the nearby houses and hit metal with the first spadeful of dirt.

From Salon • Jan. 27, 2013

Because previous landowners like Union Pacific were paying some of the cleanup costs, accountants had to track each spadeful.

From Time Magazine Archive

They were ay needing something done, and I couldna even get a spadeful of earth without another pair of hands.

From Frederica and her Guardians The Perils of Orphanhood by Robertson, Margaret M. (Margaret Murray)