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 .

Related Words

• shovel