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noun
1.
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.
2.
some implement, piece, or part resembling this.
3.
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)
4.
to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes followed by up): Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.
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Call a spade a spade
is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
5.
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.
6.
in spades, Informal.
a.
in the extreme; positively: He's a hypocrite, in spades.
b.
without restraint; outspokenly: I told him what I thought, in spades.
Origin:
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
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
Related forms
spade·like, adjective
spad·er, noun
un·spad·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To call a spade a spade
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
spade
"figure on playing cards," 1598, probably from It. spade, pl. of spada "sword, spade," from L. spatha "broad, flat weapon or tool," from Gk. spathe "broad blade" (see spade (1)). Phrase in spades "in abundance" first recorded 1929 (Damon Runyon), probably from bridge, where
EXPANDspades are the highest-ranking suit.
COLLAPSE
"The invitations to the musicale came sliding in by pairs and threes and spade flushes." [O.Henry, "Cabbages & Kings," 1904]Derogatory meaning "black person" is 1928, from the color of the playing card symbol.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
call a spade a spade definition
To speak directly and bluntly; to avoid euphemism: “The prosecutor said, ‘Let's call a spade a spade. You didn't borrow the money, you stole it.’”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
call a spade a spade
Speak frankly and bluntly, be explicit, as in You can always trust Mary to call a spade a spade. This term comes from a Greek saying, call a bowl a bowl, that was mistranslated into Latin by Erasmus and came into English in the 1500s. Also see tell it like it is.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Idioms & Phrases
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