Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Kate sat on the back steps, the sun shone, her nearest neighbour was spading an onion bed.
From A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter
Meanwhile, out under the trees, the gardener was spading turf, the lawn-mower was purring briskly and as though no sentence of death had been passed upon the master of the place.
From Money Magic A Novel by Hamlin Garland
Farvie talked of seed catalogues, and it became evident that Jeff was spading up the old vegetable garden on the orchard's edge.
From The Prisoner by Alice Brown
It came from one of the relief party who had clambered into the cavern and was spading there in the loose soil.
From Hetty Wesley by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
