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spade
1[speyd]
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)
to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes followed byup ).
Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.
spade
2[speyd]
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 count double.
Spades is trump.
Spades count double.
(used with a plural verb)the winning of seven spades or more.
Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.
spade
1/ ɪ /
noun
a tool for digging, typically consisting of a flat rectangular steel blade attached to a long wooden handle
an object or part resembling a spade in shape
( as modifier )
a spade beard
a heavy metallic projection attached to the trail of a gun carriage that embeds itself into the ground and so reduces recoil
a type of oar blade that is comparatively broad and short Compare spoon
a cutting tool for stripping the blubber from a whale or skin from a carcass
to speak plainly and frankly
verb
(tr) to use a spade on
spade
2/ ɪ /
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
informalin an extreme or emphatic way
Other Word Forms
- spadelike adjective
- spader noun
- unspaded adjective
- ˈ貹 noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of spade1
Word History and Origins
Origin of spade1
Origin of spade2
Idioms and Phrases
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,
in the extreme; positively.
He's a hypocrite, in spades.
without restraint; outspokenly.
I told him what I thought, in spades.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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