| 释义 |
▪ I. spade, n.1|speɪd|
Also 4, 7 spad; Sc. 6–7 sped, 6–7 spaid.
[OE. spadu, spædu fem., and spade fem. or spada masc., = OFris. spada (EFris. spâde, NFris. spade, spâ, spaar), MDu. spade (Du. spade, spa), OS. spado masc. (MLG. spade, LG. spade-n, spâ), G. spaten († spate, spat; not recorded in OHG. or MHG., and perh. from LG., which is the source of MDa. spade, spaade, MSw. spadhe, Da., Sw., Norw. spade, Icel. spaði). Closely related to Gr. σπάθη wooden blade, paddle, sword, etc., whence L. spatha: see spade n.2 and spathe.]
1. a. A tool for digging, paring, or cutting ground, turf, etc., now usually consisting of a flattish rectangular iron blade socketed on a wooden handle which has a grip or cross-piece at the upper end, the whole being adapted for grasping with both hands while the blade is pressed into the ground with the foot.
In more primitive forms, or for special purposes, the blade also may be wholly or partly made of wood, and its lower extremity is sometimes rounded or pointed.
c725Corpus Gloss. U 13 Uangas, spadan. c1000ælfric Saints' Lives II. 50 Ic nat mid hwi ic delfe, nu me swa wana is æᵹþer ᵹe spadu ᵹe mattuc. a1100Gerefa in Anglia IX. 263 Siðe, sicol, weodhoc, spade, scofle. c1150Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 550 Uanga, uel fossorium, spade. a1225Ancr. R. 384 Ȝif eax ne kurue, ne þe spade ne dulue, ne þe suluh ne erede, hwo kepte ham uorte holden? c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 270 Þe eorþe was hard,..and none spade he nadde. a1300Cursor M. 1239 For-wroght wit his hak and spad Of him-self he wex al sad. 1390Gower Conf. II. 128 So that in stede of schovele and spade The scharpe swerd was take on honde. c1440Alph. Tales cxix. 84 With a spade he smate hur in sonder. 1474Caxton Chesse iii. i. (1883) 76 The spade or shouell is for to delue & labour ther⁓with the erthe. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §17 He wyll with a shouell, or a spade, caste out all that is fallen in the rygge. 1591Spenser Virg. Gnat 653 His yron headed spade tho making cleene, To dig vp sods out of the flowrie grasse. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 33 The gunne hath brought all weapons to an equality... Nothing resists it but the spade. 1671Milton P.R. iii. 331 Of labouring Pioners A multitude with Spades and Axes arm'd. 1729Swift Corr. Wks. 1841 II. 626, I knew an old lord..who amused himself with mending pitchforks and spades for his tenants gratis. 1784Cowper Task iii. 636 Strength may wield the pond'rous spade. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 315 They were so tender as to be much injured by the spade in the process of lifting. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxi. 540 The spade of the Middle Ages was generally a wooden frame tipped with iron.
fig.1340Ayenb. 108 Þanne nymþ he his pic and his spade and beginþ to delue and to myny, and geþ in-to his herte. 1594Selimus Greene's Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 203 Good sir, your wisedomes ouerflowing wit, Digs deepe with learnings wonder-working spade. 1890R. Bridges Shorter Poems iii. 13 The heartless spade of death.
b. The depth of a spade-blade; a spit.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 186 You cannot dig many spades in mold or growthsom earth, before you come at a dead soyl. 1764Museum Rust. II. 377 After I have got through the surface, which is about a spade and half deep. 1786Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 13 Let borders for wall-trees..be well trenched, two spades deep. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. Add. 8 Beginning at one end of the place where the earth is to be taken, and..taking off a spade deep (about eight inches).
c. The length of a spade with its handle.
1825Croker Trad. S. Ireland 250 'Tis about ten spades from this to the cross. 1827H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 193 The dimensions are then to be marked out..at two ‘Spades’ and a half distant from the stake, or about eighteen feet diameter.
2. a. Phr. to call a spade a spade, to call things by their real names, without any euphemism or mincing of matters; to use plain or blunt language; to be straightforward to the verge of rudeness.
In the ultimate source of the first quotation, Plutarch's Apophthegmata 178 B, the Greek words are τὴν σκάϕην σκάϕην λέγοντας. There is no evidence that σκάϕη (a trough, basin, bowl, boat, etc.) had the sense of ‘spade’; in rendering it by ligo Erasmus evidently confused it with σκαϕεῖον or other derivatives from the stem of σκάπτειν to dig. Lucian De Hist. Conscr. 41 gives a fuller form of the phrase, τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάϕην δὲ σκάϕην ὀνοµάσων.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 167 Philippus aunswered, that the Macedonians wer feloes of no fyne witte in their termes but altogether grosse, clubbyshe, and rusticall, as they whiche had not the witte to calle a spade by any other name then a spade. 1580Gifford Posie of Gilloflowers Wks. (Grosart) 101, I cannot say the crow is white, But needes must call a spade a spade. 1589Marprel. Epit. A ij, I am plaine, I must needs call a Spade a Spade. 1630Pathomachia iv. ii. 34, I am a plaine Macedonian, I must need call a Spade, a Spade. 1647Trapp Marrow Gd. Authors in Comm. Ep. 641 Gods people shall not spare to call a spade a spade, a niggard a niggard. 1706E. Ward Hud. Rediv. I. vii. 11 This is not Time of Day For Truth to be so obvious made, We must not call a Spade, a Spade. 1731–8Swift Polite Conv. 199, I am old Tell-Truth; I love to call a Spade a Spade. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 115 They are the most unsavory vagabonds in their ordinary colloquies; they make no hesitation to call a spade a spade. 1884Punch 15 Nov. 229/2 If it is absolutely necessary to call a spade a spade then it must be done in a whisper.
b. In allusions to the above phrase.
1677W. Hughes Man of Sin iii. iii. 57 As surely as a Spade is a Spade, and ought so to be called. 1728–31Lett. from Fog's Jrnl. (1732) I. 258 A Spade with me was always a Spade, and Coscia a blundering Knave. 1816J. W. Croker in C. Papers (1884) I. iii. 98 Everything goes by its proper name; a spade is a spade; and a bayonet a bayonet. 1859Trollope West Indies ix. 123 A spade is a spade, and it is worse than useless to say that it is something else.
c. More forcefully, in colloq. phr. to call a spade a (bloody) shovel: to speak with great or unnecessary bluntness.
1919W. S. Maugham Moon & Sixpence iii. 12 We did not think it hypocritical to draw over our vagaries the curtain of a decent silence. The spade was not invariably called a bloody shovel. 1945N. Balchin Mine Own Executioner ii. 34 Sometimes..I get so fed up with all the mumbo-jumbo and abracadabra and making of holy mysteries about simple things that I like to call a spade a shovel. 1978Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First ii. 48 As a literary starting-off point, the determination to call a spade a bloody shovel has imposed a fundamental limitation... Outspokenness..is simply not enough.
3. An implement resembling a spade in form or use:
a. One or other of various spade-like knives used by whalers, esp. one employed in flensing a whale; a blubber-spade.
1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 511 Wood for harpoon and lance-stocks; handles of knives, spades, prickers [etc.]. 1845J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific vii. 75 They each have long spades, and cut the blubber the proper breadth spirally from the base of the head to the flukes. 1887Goode Fisheries U.S. 264 The officer of the boat..would thrust the sharp-edged spade into the ‘small’.
b. A tool used in seal-engraving to remove irregularities of surface.
1850Holtzapffel Turning III. 1368 A tool called a spade, consisting of a piece of soft iron about 3 or 4 inches long, the end of which is filed at an angle of 45 degrees, and charged with diamond powder. The spade is held in the fingers like a pencil.
c. A spade-like attachment serving to increase the grip of a wheel, retard the motion of a conical pendulum, check the recoil of a gun-carriage, etc.
1862London Rev. 23 Aug. 176 Up to this time the plain surface of the wheels only had been in use, and now..the engine-driver brought in the auxiliary power of the spades, and protruding them a short distance through the wheels, at once doubled the powers of the engine. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 67 In a conical pendulum there is generally a spade attached to and revolving with the pendulum bob, so arranged that..the spade dips deeper into a vessel containing glycerine. 1898E. S. May Field Artillery 294 The first round fired forces the spade into the ground. Ibid. 328 A spade..is attached to the end of the trail and checks the recoil of the lower carriage.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. With ns., in attrib. or other relations, as spade attachment, spade-carrier, spade-cultivation, spade cutting, etc.; spade-type adj.
1899Westm. Gaz. 29 Dec. 5/2 The quick-firing *spade attachment..fitted to all our gun carriages in South Africa.
1895Daily News 15 Feb. 6/4 He speaks casually of seeing the *spade-carriers erecting some earthworks to shelter the outlying Circassians.
1846McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 381 *Spade cultivation general.
1859Cornwallis New World I. 105 We passed several gangs of men levelling it by *spade-cutting.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 702/2 Fig. 1654 represents one kind [of digging-machine] in which the *spade-handles pass through guide-slots in an upper bar.
1832H. Martineau Homes Abroad ii. 27 The soil shall be improved to the utmost by *spade-husbandry.
1771in Monthly Messenger July (1906) 192/1 Richard Lumley, *spademaker in Swalwell. 1843Holtzapffel Turning I. 210 Much heavier hammers..are used by the spade-makers for planishing.
1885S. Lane-Poole Coins & Medals 202 Of the tch'ang, or adze or *spade-pattern, we know..that some were cast specially for the purpose of currency.
1832Planting 37 (L.U.K.), *Spade planting applies to land prepared for the reception of the plants by trenching.
1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 252 A mode of setting Osage thorn quicks, known as *spade-setting, consists in opening a line of slits in the surface soil..with a long, narrow spade.
1542Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VIII. 132 Item, for vj *spaid schaftis deliverit to Johnne Drummond.
1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 29 Mar. 57/2 Most impressive do I find these new *spade-type rotary cultivators which have been imported from the Continent. 1967Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 31/1 The steering gear comprises twin balanced spade-type rudders.
b. With adjs. and pa. pples., as spade-armed, spade-cut, spade-deep, spade-dug, spade-footed, spade-handed, spade-like, spade-proud, etc. Also spade-wise adv.
1782J. Trumbull M'Fingal iii. 61 Till looking back he spied in rear The *spade-arm'd chief. 1962E. Snow Red China Today (1963) lxvii. 508 Battalions, whole divisions, of spade-armed peasants in this general area have been working on a plan.
1891S. C. Scrivener Our Fields & Cities 138 A section of the exposed *spade-cut surface.
1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 29 A *spade-deep excision for the planks..to rest upon.
1842E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 11 Other corn crops..if *spade dug, dibbled, and hoed, will be equally profitable.
1867Amer. Naturalist I. 108 The *Spade-footed Toads..are more uncertain in their appearance, being governed entirely by the dampness or dryness of the season. 1891Cent. Dict. s.v. Scaphiopodinæ, A sub-family..containing the American spade-footed toads. 1901Gadow Amphibia & Reptiles 162 The ‘Spade-footed Toad’, which occurs throughout the whole of Central Europe.
1898Westm. Gaz. 1 Sept. 3/2 The oft so-called *spade-fronted sort of Eton coatie.
1934Dylan Thomas 18 Poems 25 When blood, *spade-handed, and the logic time Drive children up like bruises to the thumb.
1611Cotgr., Louchet, a..*spade⁓like instrument, halfe headed with yron. 1850E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges II. 597 The flat spade⁓like portion of the bolt. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 472 The condition of the hands..has been aptly described as spade-like by Sir William Gull.
1941L. B. Lyon Tomorrow is Revealing 24 It hurt me, the efficient, *spade⁓proud hole, That earth-room with its tapestry of boughs.
1783J. Barbut Gen. Vermium 93/1 The *Spade-shaped Sea Urchin. 1876J. H. Kidder Kerguelen Isl. ii. 74 (Smithsonian Misc. Collect.), Mouth shields broad, spade-shaped.
1891Daily News 15 Sept. 3/1 One acre of *spade trenched land of average quality.
1646J. Hall Poems i. 5 Whether he Did cut his beard *spadwise or like a T. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. 92 The bottom made of Iron-plate Spade-wise.
5. Special combs.: spade-arm, the arm used in holding the hand-grip of a spade; spade-bayonet (see quot.); spade-bit dial., a spit of earth; spade-bolt, a form of bolt used in ironwork; spade-chisel, a chisel having a broad spade-shaped end; spade-coin = spade money; spade-farm, a farm cultivated by manual labour with the spade; hence spade-farming; spade-fish, a fish resembling a spade in form; now spec. the moon-fish, Chætodipterus faber; spade-foot, (a) the foot used in pressing a spade into the ground; (b) an enlargement on a chair-leg, etc., resembling a spade; (c) a toad having a foot specially adapted for digging; also attrib.; spade-guinea, a guinea coined from 1787 to 1799, on which the shield bearing the arms has the form of a pointed spade; spade-hind (see quot.); spade lug Agric., each of a number of metal lugs that are bolted to the rim of a tractor wheel so as to project radially outwards and give an improved grip; hence spade-lugged a.; spade-money, early Chinese bronze money made in the form of spades; † spade-peak, a spade-beard; spade-peat (see quot.); spade-press Austr., a wool-press in which fleeces are compressed by means of a spade; † spade-silver Sc., payment for spade-work; † spade-staff, a plough-staff, a pattle; † spade-stale, spade-tree (now dial.), a spade-handle; spade terminal Electr., a flat, spade-shaped piece of metal having a slot or hole in it for fixing under a nut or bolt to make an electrical connection; spade-trench v., to dig deeply with a spade; spade-wheel, the wheel in a digging machine which carries the spades; spade-work, (a) work done with a spade for the preparation of ground; (b) fig., preliminary work, difficult or laborious preparation, pioneering research; hence (rarely) spade-worker.
1801M. Edgeworth Contract (1832) 157, I should not well be able to manage it with the rheumatism in my *spade⁓arm.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2252/1 *Spade-bayonet, a broad-bladed bayonet, which may be used in digging shelter-holes or rifle-pits.
1790W. H. Marshall Rur. Econ. Midl. II. 442 *Spade-bit, the quantity of soil raised by one effort of the spade.
1850E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges II. 597 These bolts are 3 inches in diameter, and have been technically called ‘*spade-bolts’; they are attached..by means of the flat spade-like portion of the bolt.
1895E. Rowe Chip Carving 29 The simplest way..is to use the *spade chisel.
1892Terrien de Lacouperie Catal. Chinese Coins Introd. p. xxxviii, The classification and identification of these *spade-coins.
1851Kingsley Yeast vi, Among..*spade farms, and model smell-traps. 1871― At Last xvi, He has not..handiness enough for the more delicate work of a little spade-farm.
Ibid., Garden-tillage and *spade-farming are not learnt in a day.
1704T. Pocock in Torrington Mem. (Camden) 184 We took up this morning a *spade fish... The spade-fish was fry'd. 1805T. M. Harris State of Ohio 116 (Thornton), There is a curious fish called the Spade-Fish,..with a bony weapon projecting from the nose.. like a narrow shovel. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 445 The Moon-fish, Chætodipterus faber... In the northern parts of the Gulf of Mexico it is called the ‘Spade-fish’.
1891Sir D. Wilson Right Hand 170, I believe every boy will hop on his *spade foot. 1897K. W. Clouston Chippendale Period in Eng. Furn. 154 By using the ‘spade foot’, as the square excrescence at the thin end of the leg is called. 1899Proc. Zool. Soc. 790 On the American Spade-foot (Scaphiopus solitarius). 1901Gadow Amphibia & Reptiles 163 Pelobates cultripes, this is the Spade-foot of the whole of Spain and Portugal and of the southern and western parts of France. Ibid. 164 Pelobates cultripes, Spade-foot Toad.
1853H. N. Humphreys Coin Collector's Man. II. 496 In 1787, a new gold coinage took place, and the guineas, known as *spade guineas, appeared. 1887Jefferies Amaryllis viii, It was understood that there were twenty thousand spade guineas in an iron box under his bed.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 224 The hedger, the *spade-hind, the spadesman, as he is indifferently called, is a useful servant on a farm.
1921Trans. Amer. Soc. Agric. Engin. XV. 175 The tri⁓spade lugs were cast with three spades on each casting..and were staggered on the wheel when in place similar to the bolt on *spade lugs. 1950Engineering 5 May 506/1 The use of spade lugs in place of plain steel rims and strakes gradually reduced the tractor weight per drawbar-horse-power. 1967J. Oates Farm Machinery xi. 77 Spade lugs and strake bars are used to bite more deeply into the ground.
1945H. J. Hine Tractors on Farm (ed. 2) iv. 38 With *spade-lugged steel wheels the spaces between the lugs must be cleaned out from time to time with a paddle.
1892Terrien de Lacouperie Catal. Chinese Coins Introd. p. xiii, *Spade-money of two sizes form chiefly the currency outside Ts'i and Tchou. They consist of little spades with hollow handles, weighing 20 to the higher standard unit of weight.
1592Nashe Pierce Penilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 27 He *spade peake is as sharpe as if he had been a Pioner before the walles of Roan.
1801Farmer's Mag. Jan. 6 The cutting up of turf, or *spade⁓peats, from the clay or earthen surfaces of the pasturage, is surely no matter of necessity.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xvii. (1891) 202 We devoted the next few days..to fixing the *spade-press—that friendly adjunct to the pioneer-squatter's humble woolshed.
1606Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 634/1 Cum lie *spaid-silver pro effossione petarum. 1612Ibid. 238/1 Cum lie spaid-silver pro lucrando lie turvis et devottis.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sull-Paddle, a small *Spade-staff, or Tool to cleanse the Plough from the Clods of Earth.
1653W. Blithe Eng. Improver Impr. 67 A piece of the best tough Willow, about the bigness of a *Spade-Stayle.
1968Wireless World Feb. 133/1 (Advt.), Heavy duty terminals... Black only will take *spade terminals and wander plug. 1976Gramophone May 1841/1 A twin phono-plug low capacitance signal cable is supplied, plus a green spade terminal earth wire.
1411Nottingham Rec. II. 86, j. *spadetree, j d. 1490Churchw. Acc. St. Dunstan's, Canterb., Item payde for a spade tre, j d ob. 1534MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For a spade tre, j d. 1893S.E. Worc. Gloss. 37 Spade-tree, the wooden shaft of a spade.
1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 467/1 The lazy-bed practice repeated for three years will completely *spade-trench the entire land.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 703 In the rotary machine (Fig. 1655) the ground-wheel b drives the *spade-wheel L1 through the intervention of gearing.
1778Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) I. 145/1 An iron plough..drawn by a horse..will save much *spade-work. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. i. xi, He that has four limbs and a French heart can do spadework. 1901Ld. Rosebery Nat. Policy (1902) note on cover, Political energy must work and entrench. I want some of this spadework on behalf of this policy. 1912H. G. Aldis in Cambr. Hist. Eng. Lit. IX. xiii. 346 Brian Twyne, a diligent Oxford antiquary who had done much pioneer spade-work in the same field. 1927Daily Tel. 12 July 9/1 The discovery of a helpful blood-test for cancer may be placed among the important advances the near future may give us as a result of spade-work already carried out. 1931E. F. Benson Mapp & Lucia iv. 93 Lucia..had insisted that all the credit was due to Drake's wife, who had planned everything (or nearly) and had done all the spade-work. 1951Sport 27 Apr.–3 May 8/3 Ernie's crafty spadework has been responsible for many of the goals netted by Jack Milburn and George Robledo. 1977A. Clarke Letter from Dead ix. 105, I did a bit of spadework on him yesterday..and he seemed to be thawing a little.
1912‘Saki’ Chron. Clovis 267 ‘Where I think you political *spade-workers are so silly,’ said the Duke, ‘is in the misdirection of your efforts.’
▪ II. spade, n.2|speɪd|
[ad. It. spade, pl. of spada (Sp. and Pg. espada) sword (see spado2), used as a mark on playing-cards. Cf. G. spadi from the same source.
In British and other cards ultimately of French origin the mark has a form resembling that of a pointed spade, so that there is a natural association with spade n.1 Cf. G. dial. spaten, Da. and Sw. spader (pl.).]
1. a. One or other of the black spade-shaped marks by which one of the four suits in a pack of playing-cards is distinguished; hence pl., the cards belonging to or forming this suit.
1598Florio, Cáppari,..those markes vpon the playing cards called spades. 1651Pleas. Hist. Miller Mansfield 19 With Ladies and their Maids like to the Queene of Spades. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 107 The Ace of Spades. 1712–4Pope Rape Lock iii. 46 ‘Let Spades be trumps!’ she said. 1784Cowper Task iv. 219 Ensanguin'd hearts, clubs typical of strife, And spades, the emblem of untimely graves. 1850Bohn's Hand-bk. Games (1867) 220 You are to discard..the knave, nine, and seven of spades.
b. attrib. in sing.
1904‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings vi. 105 The invitations to the musicale came sliding in by pairs and threes and spade flushes. 1973Country Life 10 May 1331/1 West led the Spade Knave, which I took with dummy's Ace.
c. fig. in advb. phr. in spades, very much, in abundance, extremely. (Spades is the highest ranking suit in Bridge.) colloq. (chiefly U.S.).
1929D. Runyon in Hearst's International Oct. 62/2, I always hear the same thing about every bum on Broadway, male and female, including some I know are bums, in spades, right from taw. 1964Wodehouse Frozen Assets i. 19 ‘It's the law I'm beefing about. You didn't make the law.’ ‘But I administer it.’ ‘I'll say you do. In spades.’ 1972R. Nixon Diary in Mem. (1978) 619 Anybody who gets to the top in the Communist hierarchy and stays at the top has to have a great deal of political ability and a great deal of toughness. All three of the Soviet leaders have this in spades.
2. A card belonging to the spade-suit.
1745Hoyle Quadrille (1746) 13 One small Club, Knave and two small Spades. 1828Praed Arr. at Watering-pl. i. Poems 1864 II. 188, I play a spade. 1879‘Cavendish’ Card Ess., etc. 109 Alcippe again plays badly in throwing the ace of hearts to the last spade.
3. a. A Black person, a Negro, esp. male: freq. in White use, as a term of contempt or casual reference. Formerly among U.S. Blacks, a very dark-skinned Negro. slang (orig. U.S.).
1928C. McKay Home to Harlem vi. 56 Jake is such a fool spade. Don't know how to handle the womens. 1929W. Thurman Blacker the Berry i. 34 Wonder where all the spades keep themselves? 1945L. Shelly Jive talk Dict. 17 Spade, colored person. 1957C. MacInnes City of Spades ii. ii. 118 A British lady with a wild love of Spades, and a horrid habit of touching you on the shoulder because she says ‘to stroke a darkie brings you luck.’ 1969[see dinge n.3]. 1971N. Saunders Alternative London xxviii. 263 On Saturdays try Brixton market—nearly as big, more genuine, lots of spades. 1978J. A. Michener Chesapeake 678 The four Turlocks hated Negroes and never hestitated in voicing their disgust. ‘Goddamned spades killed my cousin Captain Matt—one of them gets out of line with me, he's dead.’
b. attrib. or as adj.
1928C. McKay Home to Harlem vi. 56 She was of the complexion known among Negroes as spade or chocolate-to-the-bone. 1952C. Brossard Who walk in Darkness x. 61 These spade intellectuals really think they've made it when they get a white girl. 1964Negro Digest Feb. 55/1, I can't see why no colored man'd want to marry no white chick... Not when there's so many fine spade chicks around. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die liv. 568 Two spade hookers went gliding by arm in arm.
Hence ˈspadelet nonce-wd. [-let], a Black child.
1959C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 62, I passed a crocodile of infants, and among them a number of little Spadelets.
▪ III. spade, n.3 Now dial.|speɪd|
[OE. sped, of unknown origin.]
The gummy or wax-like matter secreted at the corner of the eye.
c725Corpus Gloss. P 375 Petuita, sped. a1100in Napier O.E. Glosses i. 1728 Glaucoma, sped. 1656W. Dugard tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §204. 57 The eyes—whose corners often times sweat tears, every day spade or filth. 1825Britton Beauties Wilts III. 378 Spade, the congealed gum of the eye. 1888–93in Berks, Wilts, and Glouc. glossaries.
▪ IV. † spade, n.4 Obs.—1
[ad. L. spado spado1.]
A eunuch.
Spade in Blount Glossogr. (1656) and hence in Phillips and some later Dicts., properly belongs to spayed ppl. a.
1680C. Nesse Church Hist. 497 Till pimp, or punk, or jade or spade, I do resolve to be.
▪ V. spade
variant of spayd Obs.
▪ VI. spade, v.1|speɪd|
[f. spade n.1 Cf. MDu. (Du.) and MLG. (LG.) spaden (LG. also spâen), Da. spade, Sw. dial. spa(da), G. spaten, -späten.]
1. trans. To cut in the form of a spade. rare—1.
1594Nashe Terrors of Night Ep. Ded., Wks. (Grosart) III. 214 To let some vnskilfull pen-man or Nouerint-maker startch his ruffe & new spade his beard with the benefite he made of them.
2. a. To dig up, to remove, with a spade.
1647Hexham i, To Spade and delve, spaden ende delven. 1755J. Ismay in Yorks. N. & Q. I. 208 Some sour marshy ground is made arable by spading the turf from the surface and then burning it in heaps. 1795Trans. Soc. Arts XIII. 136, I was advised..to get it [sc. the land] dug or spaded. 1807J. Barlow Columb. ii. 632 They form to different arts the hand of toil, To whirl the spindle and to spade the soil. 1844Emerson Lect. New Eng. Ref. Wks. (Bohn) I. 259 The hundred acres of the farm must be spaded. 1889Harper's Mag. Sept. 570/2 Spading the garden faithfully every spring.
b. To dig up, lift out, take off, with the spade.
1785G. Washington Diary 5 Sept. (1925) II. 410 Began to spade up the Lawn in front of the Court yard. 1817–8Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 6 Spaded up a corner of ground. 1836A. E. Bray Descr. Tamar & Tavy I. xx. 348 The slight layer of turf which is spaded off the land. 1854Thoreau Walden i. (1886) 54, I spaded up all the land which I required. 1877C. Tait Let. in Benham Cath. & C. Tait (1879) 557 The grain is spaded out of trucks.
3. To cut or flense with a whaling-spade.
1887Goode Fisheries U.S. 265 Spading flukes is one of the lost arts of fishery.
4. intr. To work with a spade; to dig.
1869Blackmore Lorna D. v, Young men would not spade or plough by reason of noble lineage.
Hence ˈspaded ppl. a.1
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 140 The manure [being] thus applied upon the spaded land, the field is next ploughed. 1877Blackmore Cripps iii, The patches of spaded mould.
▪ VII. † spade, v.2 Obs.
[f. spaid, spayed, pa. pple. of spay v., perh. associated with L. spado: see spade n.4]
trans. To spay.
1611Chapman Widowes T. Wks. 1873 III. 83 I'll have all young widows spaded for marrying again. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 208 The women of Egypt were sometimes spaded. 1710London's Med. Informer 32 Women may be Spaded by Sow-Gelders.
Hence † ˈspaded ppl. a.2; ˈspader; ˈspading vbl. n. Obs.
1648Hexham ii, Gelte,.. a spaded Hogge, a barrow Hogge, or a Sowe. Ibid., Een Lubber, a Gelder, or a Spader. Een Lubbinge, a Gelding or a Spading. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 143 If some shall..object, that gelding and spading be unnatural Actions. Ibid. 148 Concerning Pork and Hog's Flesh made of a spaded Sow, or a Hog gelded. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVII. 204 Those spaded bitches appeared to have been grunes or greyhounds. |