spade

[ speyd ]

/ speɪd /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR spade ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a tool for digging, having an iron blade adapted for pressing into the ground with the foot and a long handle commonly with a grip or crosspiece at the top, and with the blade usually narrower and flatter than that of a shovel.

some implement, piece, or part resembling this.

a sharp projection on the bottom of a gun trail, designed to dig into the earth to restrict backward movement of the carriage during recoil.

verb (used with object), spad·ed, spad·ing.

to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes followed by up): Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.

Nearby words

spacious, spaciously, spackle, spacy, spad, spading, spade foot, spade guinea, spadefish, spadefoot, spadefoot toad

Idioms

call a spade a spade, to call something by its real name; be candidly explicit; speak plainly or bluntly: To call a spade a spade, he's a crook.

in spades, Informal.

in the extreme; positively: He's a hypocrite, in spades.
without restraint; outspokenly: I told him what I thought, in spades.

Origin of spade

before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English spadu; cognate with Dutch spade, German Spaten, Old Norse spathi spade, Greek spáthē broad, flat piece of wood

Related formsspade·like, adjectivespad·er, nounun·spad·ed, adjective

Can be confusedspade spay

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for spading

The pupils in Form I cannot be expected to do heavy work, such as spading plots or making paths.
Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study|Ontario Ministry of Education
The farmer and the gardener should expect very poor crops if they planted seed without first ploughing or spading the soil.
Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know|Julia Ellen Rogers
The weather is delightful, and I seek distraction by spading in my garden.
A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital|John Beauchamp Jones
They went on with their spading in the fields, while shrapnel was pinging.
Young Hilda at the Wars|Arthur Gleason

Soon after frost has killed the leaves, carefully dig up the tubers with a spading fork.
Gardening for Little Girls|Olive Hyde Foster

British Dictionary definitions for spading (1 of 2)

spade

/ (speɪd) /

noun

a tool for digging, typically consisting of a flat rectangular steel blade attached to a long wooden handle

an object or part resembling a spade in shape
(as modifier)a spade beard

a heavy metallic projection attached to the trail of a gun carriage that embeds itself into the ground and so reduces recoil

a type of oar blade that is comparatively broad and shortCompare spoon (def. 6)

a cutting tool for stripping the blubber from a whale or skin from a carcass

call a spade a spade to speak plainly and frankly

verb

(tr) to use a spade on

Derived Formsspader, noun

Word Origin for spade

Old English spadu; related to Old Norse spathi, Old High German spato, Greek spathē blade

British Dictionary definitions for spading (2 of 2)

spade

/ (speɪd) /

noun

the black symbol on a playing card resembling a heart-shaped leaf with a stem
a card with one or more of these symbols or (when pl) the suit of cards so marked, usually the highest ranking of the four

a derogatory word for Black

in spades informal in an extreme or emphatic way

Word Origin for spade

C16: from Italian spada sword, used as an emblem on playing cards, from Latin spatha, from Greek spathē blade, broadsword

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for spading (1 of 2)

spade

n.1

"tool for digging," Old English spadu, from Proto-Germanic *spadon (cf. Old Frisian spada, Middle Dutch spade, Old Saxon spado, Middle Low German spade, German Spaten), from PIE *spe- "long, flat piece of wood" (cf. Greek spathe "wooden blade, paddle," Old English spon "chip of wood, splinter," Old Norse spann "shingle, chip").

To call a spade a spade "use blunt language, call things by right names" (1540s) translates a Greek proverb (known to Lucian), ten skaphen skaphen legein "to call a bowl a bowl," but Erasmus mistook Greek skaphe "trough, bowl" for a derivative of the stem of skaptein "to dig," and the mistake has stuck.

Word Origin and History for spading (1 of 2)

spade

n.2

"figure on playing cards," 1590s, probably from Italian spade, plural of spada "sword, spade," from Latin spatha "broad, flat weapon or tool," from Greek spathe "broad blade" (see spade (n.1)). Phrase in spades "in abundance" first recorded 1929 (Damon Runyon), probably from bridge, where spades are the highest-ranking suit.

The invitations to the musicale came sliding in by pairs and threes and spade flushes. [O.Henry, "Cabbages & Kings," 1904]

Derogatory meaning "black person" is 1928, from the color of the playing card symbol.

Idioms and Phrases with spading

spade

see call a spade a spade; do the spadework; in spades.

spade

noun

verb (used with object), spad·ed, spad·ing.

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Idioms

Origin of spade

Examples from the Web for spading

British Dictionary definitions for spading (1 of 2)

spade

noun

verb

Word Origin for spade

British Dictionary definitions for spading (2 of 2)

spade

noun

Word Origin for spade

Word Origin and History for spading (1 of 2)

spade

Word Origin and History for spading (1 of 2)

spade

Idioms and Phrases with spading

spade