spadeful

[ speyd-fool ]

noun

, plural spade·fuls.

1. the amount that can be dug out with or carried on a spade.

Word History and Origins

Origin of spadeful¹

First recorded in 1635–45; spade ¹ + -ful

Example Sentences

There’s “nary a spadeful of dirt dug for a major development in Arlington that doesn’t have Art Walsh’s imprint on it,” The Washington Post wrote in 1982.

From Washington Post

“With every spadeful we were burying our story - our story as an Upper Missouri country people,” Lindberg said.

From Washington Times

That money is gone, wasted, without a spadeful of dirt being turned for a 55-mile highway so little needed that I previously dubbed it the Road for Nobody.

From Washington Post

This week the BBC threw another spadeful of dirt on the grave by decreeing in its latest style guide that Fleet Street was no longer a useful synonym for the print media.

From New York Times

They borrowed a shovel from one of the nearby houses and hit metal with the first spadeful of dirt.

From Salon