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spading

  • present participle
    of spade.
    spade
    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.

Example Sentences

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President John Quincy Adams broke ground on the 185-mile Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1828, spading the first shovel of dirt just across the District line.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2017

Part of the special delight of “Ghostland” is its many informed asides, revealing Dickey’s long hours of spading up obscure facts and quotes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2016

Professor Aiken thinks that computers will take over intellectual drudgery as power-driven tools took over spading and reaping.

From Time Magazine Archive

Kennedy's out-of-state legwork made many a Democrat indebted; Kennedy's backyard spading produced a record-breaking, 870,000-vote plurality for him and high-lift coattails for other Massachusetts Democrats.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the graveyard, as they turned in, two men were already spading out the earth.

From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury