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spade1

Pronunciation: /speɪd/

Translate spade | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of spade

noun

  • a tool with a sharp-edged, typically rectangular, metal blade and a long handle, used for digging or cutting earth, sand, turf, etc..
  • a tool shaped like a spade but used for another purpose, especially one for removing the blubber from a whale.
  • [as modifier] shaped like a spade:a spade bit

verb

[with object]
  • dig over (ground) with a spade:while spading the soil, I think of the flowers
  • [with object and adverbial of direction] move (soil) with a spade:earth is spaded into the grave

Phrases

call a spade a spade

speak plainly without avoiding unpleasant or embarrassing issues: it is time to name names and call a spade a spade

Derivatives

spadeful

noun (plural spadefuls)

Origin:

Old English spadu, spada, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch spade, German Spaten, also to Greek spathē 'blade, paddle'

spade in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of spade in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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