[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.
|
[speyd] ,| 1. | a black figure shaped like an inverted heart and with a short stem at the cusp opposite the point, used on playing cards. |
| 2. | a card of the suit bearing such figures. |
| 3. | spades,
|
| 4. | Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a black person. |
| spade 1 (spād) n.
To dig or cut with a spade. [Middle English, from Old English spadu.] spad'er n. |
| spade 2 (spād) n.
[Italian spade, pl. of spada, card suit, from Latin spatha, sword, broad-bladed stirrer, from Greek spathē, broad blade.] |
"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.
spades
trick-taking card game of the whist family that became very popular in the United States in the 1990s, though reportedly some 40 years old by that time. It is played by four players in bridge-style partnerships, each being dealt 13 cards one at a time from a standard 52-card deck. Spades are always the trump suit.
Learn more about spades with a free trial on Britannica.com.
