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

Lederle Laboratories invested $6,000,000 and sifted 100,000 molds before turning up Aureomycin in a spadeful of Missouri soil.

From Time Magazine Archive

"We have been wild to dig for the treasure," Charley concluded, "but we would not touch a spadeful of earth until you could be with us to share in the excitement."

From The Boy Chums in the Forest or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades by Davis, J. Watson