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 sb.2 and SPATHE.]
1. 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.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., U 13. Uangas, spadan.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, II. 50. Ic nat mid hwi ic delfe, nu me swa wana is æʓþer ʓe spadu ʓe mattuc.
a. 1100. Gerefa, in Anglia, IX. 263. Siðe, sicol, weodhoc, spade, scofle.
c. 1150. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 550. Uanga, uel fossorium, spade.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 384. Ȝif eax ne kurue, ne þe spade ne dulue, ne þe suluh ne erede, hwo kepte ham uorte holden?
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 270. Þe eorþe was hard,… and none spade he nadde.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1239. For-wroght wit his hak and spad Of him-self he wex al sad.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 128. So that in stede of schovele and spade The scharpe swerd was take on honde.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, cxix. 84. With a spade he smate hur in sonder.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, III. i. (1883), 76. The spade or shouell is for to delue & labour therwith the erthe.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 17. He wyll with a shouell, or a spade, caste out all that is fallen in the rygge.
1591. Spenser, Virg. Gnat, 653. His yron headed spade tho making cleene, To dig vp sods out of the flowrie grasse.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 33. The gunne hath brought all weapons to an equality…. Nothing resists it but the spade.
1671. Milton, P. R., III. 331. Of labouring Pioners A multitude with Spades and Axes arm’d.
1729. Swift, Corr., Wks. 1841, II. 626/1. I knew an old lord … who amused himself with mending pitchforks and spades for his tenants gratis.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 636. Strength may wield the pond’rous spade.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 315. They were so tender as to be much injured by the spade in the process of lifting.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxi. 540. The spade of the Middle Ages was generally a wooden frame tipped with iron.
fig. 1340. Ayenb., 108. Þanne nymþ he his pic and his spade and beginþ to delue and to myny, and geþ in-to his herte.
1594. Selimus, Greene’s Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 203. Good sir, your wisedomes ouerflowing wit, Digs deepe with learnings wonder-working spade.
1890. R. Bridges, Shorter Poems, III. 13. The heartless spade of death.
b. The depth of a spade-blade; a spit.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 186. You cannot dig many spades in mold or growthsom earth, before you come at a dead soyl.
1764. Museum Rust., II. 377. After I have got through the surface, which is about a spade and half deep.
1786. Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 13. Let borders for wall-trees … be well trenched, two spades deep.
1812. Sir 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.
1825. T. C. Croker, Fairy Leg. S. Irel., I. 250. ’Tis about ten spades from this to the cross.
1827. 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. 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 ὀναμάσων.
1542. Udall, 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.
1580. Gifford, Posie of Gilloflowers, Wks. (Grosart), 101. I cannot say the crow is white, But needes must call a spade a spade.
1589. Marprel. Epit., A ij. I am plaine, I must needs call a Spade a Spade.
1630. Pathomachia, IV. ii. 34. I am a plaine Macedonian, I must need call a Spade, a Spade.
1647. Trapp, Marrow Gd. Authors, in Comm. Ep., 641. Gods people shall not spare to call a spade a spade, a niggard a niggard.
1706. E. 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.
1731–8. Swift, Polite Conv., 199. I am old Tell-Truth; I love to call a Spade a Spade.
1837. W. 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.
1884. Punch, 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.
1677. W. Hughes, Man of Sin, III. iii. 57. As surely as a Spade is a Spade, and ought so to be called.
1728–31. Lett. from Fog’s Jrnl. (1732), I. 258. A Spade with me was always a Spade, and Coscia a blundering Knave.
1816. J. 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.
1859. Trollope, West Indies, ix. 123. A spade is a spade, and it is worse than useless to say that it is something else.
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.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 511. Wood for harpoon and lance-stocks; handles of knives, spades, prickers [etc.].
1845. J. 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.
1887. Goode, 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.
1850. Holtzapffel, 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.
1862. London 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.
1884. F. 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.
1898. E. 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 sbs., in attrib. or other relations, as spade attachment, -carrier, -cultivation, cutting, etc.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 29 Dec., 5/2. The quick-firing *spade attachment … fitted to all our gun carriages in South Africa.
1895. Daily News, 15 Feb., 6/4. He speaks casually of seeing the *spade-carriers erecting some earthworks to shelter the outlying Circassians.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 381. *Spade cultivation general.
1859. Cornwallis, New World, I. 105. We passed several gangs of men levelling it by *spade-cutting.
1875. Knight, 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.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Homes Abroad, ii. 27. The soil shall be improved to the utmost by *spade-husbandry.
1771. in Monthly Messenger, July (1906), 192/1. Richard Lumley, *spademaker in Swalwell.
1843. Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 210. Much heavier hammers … are used by the spade-makers for planishing.
1885. S. Lane-Poole, Coins & Medals, 202. Of the tch’ang, or adze or *spade-pattern, we know by actual specimens that some were cast specially for the purpose of currency.
1832. Planting, 37 (L. U. K.). *Spade planting applies to land prepared for the reception of the plants by trenching.
1868. Rep. 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.
1542. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VIII. 132. Item, for vj *spaid schaftis deliverit to Johnne Drummond.
1778. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), I. 145/1. An iron plough … drawn by a horse … will save much *spade-work.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. xi. He that has four limbs and a French heart can do spadework.
1901. Ld. Rosebery, Nat. Policy (1902), note on cover. Political energy must work and entrench. I want some of this spadework on behalf of this policy.
b. With adjs. and pa. pples., as spade-cut, -deep, -dug, -like, etc. Also spade-wise adv.
1891. S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 138. A section of the exposed *spade-cut surface.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 29. A *spade-deep excision for the planks … to rest upon.
c. 1842. Lance, Cottage Farmer, 11. Other corn crops … if *spade dug, dibbled, and hoed, will be equally profitable.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v. Scaphiopodinæ, A sub-family … containing the American *spade-footed toads.
1901. Gadow, Amphibia & Reptiles, 162. The ‘Spade-footed Toad,’ which occurs throughout the whole of Central Europe.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 1 Sept., 3/2. The oft so-called *spade-fronted sort of Eton coatie.
1611. Cotgr., Louchet, a … *spade-like instrument, halfe headed with yron.
1850. E. Clark, Britannia & Conway Bridges, II. 597. The flat spade-like portion of the bolt.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 472. The condition of the hands … has been aptly described as spade-like by Sir William Gull.
1783. Barbut, Gen. Vermium, 93/4. The *Spade-shaped Sea Urchin.
1876. J. H. Kidder, Kerguelen Isl., II. 74 (Smithsonian Misc. Collect.). Mouth shields broad, spade-shaped.
1891. Daily News, 15 Sept., 3/1. One acre of *spade trenched land of average quality.
1646. J. Hall, Poems, I. 5. Whether he Did cut his beard *spadwise or like a T.
1655. Mrq. 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 labor 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-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-trench v., to dig deeply with a spade; spade-wheel, the wheel in a digging machine that carries the spades.
1801. Mar. Edgeworth, Contrast, Wks. 1832, V. 157. I should not be well able to manage it with the rheumatism in my *spade-arm.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2252/1. *Spade-bayonet.… A broad-bladed bayonet, which may be used in digging shelter-holes or rifle-pits.
1790. W. H. Marshall, Rur. Econ. Midl., II. 442. *Spade-bit; the quantity of soil raised by one effort of the spade.
1850. E. 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.
1895. Eleanor Rowe, Chip-carving, 29. The simplest way … is to use the *spade chisel.
1892. Terrien de Lacouperie, Catal. Chinese Coins, Introd. p. xxxviii. The classification and identification of these *spade-coins.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, vi. Among … *spade farms, and model smell-traps. Ibid. (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.
1704. T. Pocock, in Torrington Mem. (Camden), 184. We took up this morning a *spade fish…. The spade-fish was fry’d.
1805. T. M. Harris, State of Ohio, 116–7 (Thornton). There is also a curious fish called the Spade-Fish. It is furnished with a bony weapon projecting from the nose…; thin ans like a narrow shovel.
1884. Goode, 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.’
1891. Sir D. Wilson, Right Hand, 170. I believe every boy will hop on his *spade foot.
1897. K. 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.
1899. Proc. Zool. Soc., 790. On the American Spade-foot (Scaphiopus solitarius).
1901. Gadow, Amphibia & Reptiles, 163. P[elobates] 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.
1853. Humphreys, Coin Collector’s Man., II. 496. In 1787, a new gold coinage took place, and the guineas, known as *spade guineas, appeared.
1887. Jefferies, Amaryllis, viii. 62. It was understood that there were twenty thousand spade guineas in an iron box under his bed.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 224. The hedger, the *spade-hind, the spadesman, as he is indifferently called, is a useful servant on a farm.
1892. Terrien 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.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 27. His *spade peake is as sharpe as if he had been a Pioner before the walles of Roan.
1801. Farmer’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.
1606. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 634/1. Cum lie *spaid-silver pro effossione petarum. Ibid. (1612), 238/1. Cum lie spaid-silver pro lucrando lie turvis et devottis.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sull-Paddle, a small *Spade-staff, or Tool to cleanse the Plough from the Clods of Earth.
1652. Blithe, Eng. Improver Impr., 67. Take a Piece of the best tough Willow, about the bignesse of a *Spade-stayle.
1411. Nottingham Rec., II. 86. j. *spadetree, j d.
1490. Churchw. Acc. St. Dunstan’s, Canterb. Item payde for a spade tre, j d ob.
1534. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., For a spade tre, j d.
1893. S. E. Worc. Gloss., 37. Spade-tree, the wooden shaft of a spade.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVIII. 467/1. The lazy-bed practice repeated for three years will completely *spade-trench the entire land.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 703. In the rotary machine (Fig. 1655) the ground-wheel b drives the *spade-wheel L1 through the intervention of gearing.
