digging stick

American  

noun

1. a pointed or spatulate wooden stick, sometimes having a stone weight or crossbar attached and used in primitive societies for loosening the ground to extract buried wild plant foods and for tilling the soil.

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Etymology

Origin of digging stick

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

digging stick

He got his digging stick and proceeded to make a hole in the ground.

From The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 379-468 by Matthews, Washington

The shape suggests that it may have been part of a digging stick; however, the specimen is very highly polished on all of its preserved surfaces.

From A Burial Cave in Baja California The Palmer Collection, 1887 by Massey, William C.

With one was found a mug, a ladle, a digging stick, and two ring baskets that had held food.

From Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado by United States. Dept. of the Interior

When at work requiring its use, the owner loosens the earth with the digging stick, held in the right hand, while her left hand plays the part of shovel.

From Oriental Women by Pollard, Edward Bagby

They hunted with sticks; they threw a stick like your mother's digging stick; and they struck with a stick like your father's hunting club.

From The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone by McIntyre, Margaret A.