Adjacent Words

Spade definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPADE, n. [L. spatula, from the root of pateo.]
1. An instrument for digging, consisting of a broad palm with a handle.
2. A suit of cards.
3. A deer three years old; written also spaid.
4. A gelded beast. [L. spado.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a playing card in the major suit that has one or more black figures on it; "she led a low spade"; "spades were trumps"
2: a sturdy hand shovel that can be pushed into the earth with the foot
3: (ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person; "only a Black can call another Black a nigga" [syn: nigger, nigga, spade, coon, jigaboo, nigra] v
1: dig (up) with a spade; "I spade compost into the flower beds"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English spadu; akin to Greek spath? blade of a sword or oar Date: before 12th century 1. a digging implement adapted for being pushed into the ground with the foot 2. a spade-shaped instrument • spadeful noun II. verb (spaded; spading) Date: circa 1647 transitive verb to dig up or out or shape with or as if with a spade intransitive verb to use a spade • spader noun III. noun Etymology: Italian spada or Spanish espada broadsword; both from Latin spatha, from Greek spath? blade Date: circa 1598 1. a. plural but singular or plural in construction the suit comprising cards marked spades b. a black figure that resembles a stylized spearhead on each playing card of one of the four suits; also a card marked with this figure 2. usually offensive black 4

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a tool used for digging or cutting the ground etc., with a sharp-edged metal blade and a long handle. 2 a tool of a similar shape for various purposes, e.g. for removing the blubber from a whale. 3 anything resembling a spade. --v.tr. dig over (ground) with a spade. Phrases and idioms: call a spade a spade speak plainly or bluntly. spade beard an oblong-shaped beard. spade foot a square spadelike enlargement at the end of a chair-leg. Derivatives: spadeful n. (pl. -fuls). Etymology: OE spadu, spada 2. n. 1 a a playing-card of a suit denoted by black inverted heart-shaped figures with small stalks. b (in pl.) this suit. 2 sl. offens. a Black. Phrases and idioms: in spades sl. to a high degree, with great force. spade guinea hist. a guinea of George III's reign with a spade-shaped shield on the reverse. Etymology: It. spade pl. of spada sword f. L spatha f. Gk spathe, rel. to SPADE(1): assoc. with the shape of a pointed spade

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spade Spade, n. [AS. sp[ae]d; spada; akin to D. spade, G. spaten, Icel. spa[eth]i, Dan. & Sw. spade, L. spatha a spatula, a broad two-edged sword, a spathe, Gr. spa`qh. Cf. Epaulet, Spade at cards, Spathe, Spatula.] 1. An implement for digging or cutting the ground, consisting usually of an oblong and nearly rectangular blade of iron, with a handle like that of a shovel. ``With spade and pickax armed.'' --Milton. 2. [Sp. espada, literally, a sword; -- so caused because these cards among the Spanish bear the figure of a sword. Sp. espada is fr. L. spatha, Gr. spa`qh. See the Etymology above.] One of that suit of cards each of which bears one or more figures resembling a spade. ``Let spades be trumps!'' she said. --Pope. 3. A cutting instrument used in flensing a whale. Spade bayonet, a bayonet with a broad blade which may be used digging; -- called also trowel bayonet. Spade handle (Mach.), the forked end of a connecting rod in which a pin is held at both ends. See Illust. of Knuckle joint, under Knuckle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spade Spade, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Spading.] To dig with a spade; to pare off the sward of, as land, with a spade.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spade Spade, n. [Cf. Spay, n.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) A hart or stag three years old. [Written also spaid, spayade.] 2. [Cf. L. spado.] A castrated man or beast.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(spades) 1. A spade is a tool used for digging, with a flat metal blade and a long handle. ... a garden spade... The girls happily played in the sand with buckets and spades. N-COUNT 2. Spades is one of the four suits in a pack of playing cards. Each card in the suit is marked with one or more black symbols: ?. ...the ace of spades. N-UNCOUNT-COLL • A spade is a playing card of this suit. N-COUNT 3. If you say that someone calls a spade a spade, you mean that they speak clearly and directly about things, even embarrassing or unpleasant things. I'm not at all secretive, and I'm pretty good at calling a spade a spade. PHRASE: V inflects [approval]

Moby Thesaurus

American Indian, Amerind, Australian aborigine, Bushman, Caucasian, Indian, Malayan, Mister Charley, Mongolian, Negrillo, Negrito, Negro, Oriental, Red Indian, WASP, ace, backset, bail, best bower, black, black man, blackfellow, bore, bower, boy, brown man, bucket, burrhead, burrow, cards, clubs, colored person, coon, cultivate, culture, cup, cut, darky, decant, deck, delve, deuce, diamonds, dig, dig out, dike, dip, dish, dish out, dish up, dredge, dress, drill, drive, dummy, excavate, face cards, fallow, fertilize, flush, force, fork, full house, furrow, gook, gouge, gouge out, groove, grub, hand, harrow, hearts, hoe, honky, jack, jigaboo, joker, jungle bunny, king, knave, ladle, left bower, list, lower, mine, mulch, nigger, niggra, ofay, pack, pair, paleface, picture cards, playing cards, plow, pour, prune, pygmy, quarry, queen, rake, red man, redskin, round, royal flush, rubber, ruff, sap, scoop, scoop out, scrabble, scrape, scratch, shovel, singleton, sink, slant-eye, spades, spoon, straight, the Man, thin, thin out, till, till the soil, trench, trey, trick, trough, trump, tunnel, weed, weed out, white, white man, whitey, work, yellow man