spade

¹

[ speyd ]

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)

, spad·ed, spad·ing.

1. to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes followed by up ):

   Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.

spade

²

[ speyd ]

noun

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,
   1. (used with a singular or plural verb) the suit so marked: Spades count double.

      Spades is trump.

      Spades count double.

   2. (used with a plural verb) Casino. the winning of seven spades or more.
4. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.

spade

¹

/ speɪd /

noun

1. 1. the black symbol on a playing card resembling a heart-shaped leaf with a stem
   2. 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
2. a derogatory word for Black
3. in spades informal.
   in an extreme or emphatic way

spade

²

/ speɪd /

noun

1. a tool for digging, typically consisting of a flat rectangular steel blade attached to a long wooden handle
2. 1. an object or part resembling a spade in shape
   2. ( as modifier )

      a spade beard

3. a heavy metallic projection attached to the trail of a gun carriage that embeds itself into the ground and so reduces recoil
4. a type of oar blade that is comparatively broad and short Compare spoon
5. a cutting tool for stripping the blubber from a whale or skin from a carcass
6. call a spade a spade
   to speak plainly and frankly

verb

1. tr to use a spade on

Derived Forms

• ˈspader, noun

Other Words From

• spadelike adjective
• spader noun
• un·spaded adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of spade¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English spadu, spada; cognate with Dutch spade, German Spaten, Old Norse spathi “spade”; akin to Greek spáthē “blade (of a sword, oar), spatula”; perhaps akin to Sanskrit sphyá- “shoulder blade, scapula”

Origin of spade²

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Italian, plural of spada originally, “sword,” from Latin spatha, from Greek spáthē; spade ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of spade¹

C16: from Italian spada sword, used as an emblem on playing cards, from Latin spatha, from Greek spathē blade, broadsword

Origin of spade²

Old English spadu; related to Old Norse spathi, Old High German spato, Greek spathē blade

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. 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.

2. in spades, Informal.
   1. in the extreme; positively:

      He's a hypocrite, in spades.

   2. without restraint; outspokenly:

      I told him what I thought, in spades.

More idioms and phrases containing spade

see call a spade a spade ; do the spadework ; in spades .

Example Sentences

As a company that is beholden to stockholders, Kate Spade usually lags, not leads trends.

From The Daily Beast

Because it is, as Spade and Wilse say, a “tool of social control used by governments to regulate sexuality and family formation.”

From The Daily Beast

But then we might have been deprived of Nick and Nora, Sam Spade and the Continental Op.

From The Daily Beast

But there are four other published Spade stories out there, and it would be nice to have them between covers in one volume.

From The Daily Beast

The administration refused to budge on calling a spade a spade.

From The Daily Beast

His strong legs and his broad, spade-like feet helped to make him a fine swimmer.

From Project Gutenberg

The labour of the spade and of the loom, and the petty gains of trade, he contemptuously abandoned to men of a lower caste.

From Project Gutenberg

When a spade declaration has been made by dummy, one trump less is necessary and the doubler need not be on the declarer's left.

From Project Gutenberg

Except in the case of a spade declaration, cases in which redoubling is justifiable are very rare.

From Project Gutenberg

A spade declaration by the dealer can be doubled with even less strength.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• shovel