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spadelike

 - 2 dictionary results

spade

1  [speyd] noun, verb, spad⋅ed, spad⋅ing.
Use spadelike in a Sentence
–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 fol. by up): Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.
—Idioms
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:
bef. 900; ME (n.); OE spadu; c. D spade, G Spaten, ON spathi spade, Gk spáthē broad, flat piece of wood

Related forms:
spadelike, adjective
spader, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

spade  (2)
"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 spades are the highest-ranking suit.
"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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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