spade1

[speyd] /speɪd/
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), spaded, spading.
4.
to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes followed by up):
Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.
Idioms
5.
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.
6.
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.
Origin
before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English spadu; cognate with Dutch spade, German Spaten, Old Norse spathi spade, Greek spáthē broad, flat piece of wood
Related forms
spadelike, adjective
spader, noun
unspaded, adjective

spade2

[speyd] /speɪd/
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 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.
Origin
1590-1600; < Italian, plural of spada orig., sword < Latin spatha < Greek spáthē; see spade1
Examples from the web for spade
  • Even if they are spade, they might still argue over who is going to have the breeding rights.
  • If a physical object-a spade, say-is sold, the seller ceases to own it.
  • That's fine and dandy if the article would call spade a spade.
  • One of the major reason of achieving the current position, they call spade ans spade with any spicing up or spinning.
  • The opening paragraph hints at it, but let's call a spade a spade.
  • Charge risk related higher interest charges and call a spade a spade.
  • It is dangerous because sadly, in political discussions, people aren't used to hearing a spade called a spade.
  • Declarer played a spade to its king and led the diamond king.
  • When the land is cultivated entirely by the spade, and no horses are kept, a cow is kept for every three acres of land.
  • If not so minded, nothing is left him but to begin the world anew, as he does who puts the spade into the ground for food.
British Dictionary definitions for spade

spade1

/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 (sense 6)
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
7.
(transitive) to use a spade on
Derived Forms
spader, noun
Word Origin
Old English spadu; related to Old Norse spathi, Old High German spato, Greek spathē blade

spade2

/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.
(informal) in spades, in an extreme or emphatic way
Word Origin
C16: from Italian spada sword, used as an emblem on playing cards, from Latin spatha, from Greek spathē blade, broadsword
Word Origin and History for spade
n.

"tool for digging," Old English spadu, from Proto-Germanic *spadon (cf. Old Frisian spada, Middle Dutch spade, Old Saxon spado, Middle Low German spade, German Spaten), from PIE *spe- "long, flat piece of wood" (cf. Greek spathe "wooden blade, paddle," Old English spon "chip of wood, splinter," Old Norse spann "shingle, chip").

To call a spade a spade "use blunt language, call things by right names" (1540s) translates a Greek proverb (known to Lucian), ten skaphen skaphen legein "to call a bowl a bowl," but Erasmus mistook Greek skaphe "trough, bowl" for a derivative of the stem of skaptein "to dig," and the mistake has stuck.

"figure on playing cards," 1590s, probably from Italian spade, plural of spada "sword, spade," from Latin spatha "broad, flat weapon or tool," from Greek spathe "broad blade" (see spade (n.1)). Phrase in spades "in abundance" first recorded 1929 (Damon Runyon), probably from bridge, where spades are the highest-ranking suit.

The invitations to the musicale came sliding in by pairs and threes and spade flushes. [O.Henry, "Cabbages & Kings," 1904]
Derogatory meaning "black person" is 1928, from the color of the playing card symbol.

Slang definitions & phrases for spade

spade

noun

A black person: The spades inhabited Harlem and let the ofays have Wall Street to themselves

[1928+; fr the color of the playing-card symbol and fr the phrase black as the ace of spades]


spade in Technology


Specification Processing And Dependency Extraction. Specification language. G.S. Boddy, ICL Mainframes Div, FLAG/UD/3DR.003

Idioms and Phrases with spade

spade

see: