were spading

• past progressive

  past progressive

  Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.

  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

See Examples For:

were spading

Two boys were spading up; another was planting; a fourth was wheeling away the weeds; and still another was bringing manure from the Deacon's stable.

From Laicus; Or, the Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish. by Lyman Abbott

But yesterday while we were spading up a patch for turnip-and-mustard-greens, I forgot and sent him off to the school-yard to pick up trash.

From Mothering on Perilous by Lucy S. Furman

Men were spading and planting the vegetable gardens, painting or white-washing fences.

From A Little Girl in Old Salem by Amanda Minnie Douglas

Other gardeners were spading paths be­cause the King was re-landscaping.

From Voices from the Past by Paul Alexander Bartlett

Related Words

• shovel