Definition of Spade

1. Noun. A playing card in the major suit that has one or more black figures on it. "Spades were trumps"

Group relationships: Major Suit
Generic synonyms: Playing Card

2. Verb. Dig (up) with a spade. "I spade compost into the flower beds"
Generic synonyms: Cut Into, Delve, Dig, Turn Over
Specialized synonyms: Ridge

3. Noun. A sturdy hand shovel that can be pushed into the earth with the foot.
Specialized synonyms: Ditch Spade, Long-handled Spade, Garden Spade
Generic synonyms: Hand Shovel

4. Noun. (ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person. "Only a Black can call another Black a nigga"

Definition of Spade

1. n. A hart or stag three years old.

2. n. 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.

3. v. t. To dig with a spade; to pare off the sward of, as land, with a spade.

Definition of Spade

1. Noun. A garden tool with a handle and a flat blade for digging. Not to be confused with a shovel which is used for moving earth or other materials. ¹

2. Noun. A playing card marked with the symbol ?. ¹

3. Noun. (offensive ethnic slur) A black person. ¹

4. Verb. To turn over soil with a spade to loosen the ground for planting. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Spade

1. to take up with a spade (a digging implement) [v SPADED, SPADING, SPADES]

Medical Definition of Spade

1. 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." 2. 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. 4. Spade handle, the forked end of a connecting rod in which a pin is held at both ends. 5. A hart or stag three years old. Alternative forms: spaid, spayade. Origin: AS. Spaed; spada; akin to D. Spade, G. Spaten, Icel. Spathi, Dan. & Sw. Spade, L. Spatha a spatula, a broad two-edged sword, a spathe, Gr. Spaqh. Cf. Epaulet, Spade at cards, Spathe, Spatula. (17 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Spade

spackled
spackler
spacklers
spackles
spackling
spackling compound
spacks
spacy
spadaite
spaddle
spaddles
spade (current term)
spade bit
spade casino
spade fingers
spade hand
spadea
spadeas
spadebone
spadebones
spaded
spadefish
spadefishes
spadefoot
spadefoot toad
spadefoots

Literary usage of Spade

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. MERRIE ENGLAND by Robert Blatchford (1895)
"Suppose I were cultivating a plot of land with a wooden spade, and that with an iron spade I could do as much work in one hour as with a wooden spade I ..."

2. Chambers's Information for the People by William Chambers, Robert Chambers (1842)
"Suppose the patch --» oti ilie »ater ; scarify the surface with the spade, ''*i ч part of a moss, dig open drains round it to • i Lung with any ..."

3. American Food and Game Fishes: A Popular Account of All the Species Found in by David Starr Jordan, Barton Warren Evermann (1902)
"The first of these is the common spade-fish, angel-fish or ... On the Florida coast the spade-fish is found through summer and fall in bays, about wharves, ..."

4. Farm Drainage: The Principles, Processes, and Effects of Draining Land with by Henry Flagg French (1859)
"The narrowest spade is usually made with a spur in front, or what the Irish call a treader, on which to place the foot in driving it into the earth. ..."

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