spade

Definitions

1. 1.Etym: [Cf. L. spado.] A castrated man or beast.
2. 2.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.
3. 3.Etym: [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.
4. 4.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.
5. 5.To dig with a spade; to pare off the sward of, as land, with a spade.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "spade" mean?
• What is another word for "spade"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is spade.

• What is etym: [Cf. L. spado.] A castrated man or beast called?
• What is 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 called?
• What is to dig with a spade; to pare off the sward of, as land, with a spade called?