[speyd] 
noun, verb, spad⋅ed, spad⋅ing.| 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. |
| 4. | to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes fol. by up): Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers. |
| 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.
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| spade 2 (spād) n.
[Italian spade, pl. of spada, card suit, from Latin spatha, sword, broad-bladed stirrer, from Greek spathē, broad blade.] |
in spades
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"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.
in spades
Considerably, in the extreme; also, without restraint. For example, They were having money problems, in spades, or Jan told him what he really thought of him, in spades. This expression alludes to spades as the highest-ranking suit in various card games, such as bridge, and transfers "highest" to other extremes. [Colloquial; 1920s]