spade
1
[ speyd ]
/ speɪd /
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.
some implement, piece, or part resembling this.
a sharp projection on the bottom of a gun trail, designed to dig into the earth to restrict backward movement of the carriage during recoil.
verb (used with object), spad·ed, spad·ing.
to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes followed by up): Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.
Idioms for spade
- in the extreme; positively: He's a hypocrite, in spades.
- without restraint; outspokenly: I told him what I thought, in spades.
call a spade a spade,
to call something by its real name; be candidly explicit; speak plainly or bluntly: To call a spade a spade, he's a crook.
in spades, Informal.
Origin of spade
1
before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English
spadu; cognate with Dutch
spade, German
Spaten, Old Norse
spathi spade, Greek
spáthē broad, flat piece of wood
OTHER WORDS FROM spade
spade·like, adjective spad·er, noun un·spad·ed, adjectiveWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH spade
spade spayWords nearby spade
spacial formula,
spacing,
spacious,
spackle,
spad,
spade,
spade foot,
spade guinea,
spadefish,
spadefoot,
spadefoot toad
Definition for spade (2 of 2)
spade
2
[ speyd ]
/ speɪd /
noun
a black figure shaped like an inverted heart and with a short stem at the cusp opposite the point, used on playing cards.
a card of the suit bearing such figures.
spades,
- (used with a singular or plural verb) the suit so marked: Spades is trump. Spades count double.
- (used with a plural verb)Casino. the winning of seven spades or more.
Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
a contemptuous term used to refer to a black person.
Origin of spade
2Example sentences from the Web for spade
Pappy, I thought you 'uz goin' to git 'at long bed all spade' up fer me by noon.
Seventeen |Booth Tarkington
British Dictionary definitions for spade (1 of 2)
spade
1
/ (speɪd) /
noun
verb
(tr)
to use a spade on
Derived forms of spade
spader, nounWord Origin for spade
Old English
spadu; related to Old Norse
spathi, Old High German
spato, Greek
spathē blade
British Dictionary definitions for spade (2 of 2)
spade
2
/ (speɪd) /
noun
- the black symbol on a playing card resembling a heart-shaped leaf with a stem
- a card with one or more of these symbols or (when pl) the suit of cards so marked, usually the highest ranking of the four
a derogatory word for Black
in spades informal
in an extreme or emphatic way
Word Origin for spade
C16: from Italian
spada sword, used as an emblem on playing cards, from Latin
spatha, from Greek
spathē blade, broadsword
Idioms and Phrases with spade
spade
see call a spade a spade; do the spadework; in spades.