What does "shovel" mean?

1. (hand tool) a tool with a long handle and a broad blade used for lifting and moving loose material like earth or snow. 2. (machine part) the large, heavy bucket on a big construction machine used for digging. 3. (to move material) to lift and move something using a shovel. 4. (to move quickly or roughly) to move something quickly or in large amounts, often in a messy way.

shovel

n. · v.

US //ˈʃəvəɫ// UK //ʃˈʌvəl// shov·el

1 hand tool (n.)
A2 Elementary

a tool with a long handle and a broad blade used for lifting and moving loose material like earth or snow.

a manual tool with a handle and a broad, often curved blade used for moving bulk materials such as soil, grain, or snow.

Example

He used a heavy shovel to clear the deep snow from his driveway.

Example

The gardener leaned his shovel against the shed after a long afternoon of moving compost to the flower beds.
- spade
- scoop
2 machine part (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Technical

the large, heavy bucket on a big construction machine used for digging.

the large bucket or scoop of a mechanical excavator or power-operated digging machine.

Example

The giant shovel of the excavator lifted tons of dirt in one go.

Example

The hydraulic shovel on the construction site was capable of moving several cubic metres of earth with every rotation of the arm.
- bucket
- scoop

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3 to move material (v.)
B1 Intermediate

to lift and move something using a shovel.

to move, lift, or clear material with a shovel; often used transitively with the material as the object.

Example

We had to shovel the gravel into the back of the truck.

Example

The workers had to shovel coal into the furnace throughout the night to keep the factory's steam engines running.
4 to move quickly or roughly (v.)
B2 Upper Intermediate Informal

to move something quickly or in large amounts, often in a messy way.

to move something in large quantities or with a rough, sweeping motion, often used figuratively regarding food.

Example

He was so hungry that he started to shovel food into his mouth.

Example

The exhausted hikers began to shovel the hot stew into their mouths as soon as the bowls were placed on the table.
- stuff
- cram

Origin

From Middle English shovele, schovel, showell, shoule, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English scofl (“shovel”), from Proto-Germanic skuflō, skūflō (“shovel”), equivalent to shove + -el (instrumental/agent suffix). Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel”), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel”), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel”), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe”), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel”), German Schaufel (“shovel”), Danish skovl (“shovel”), Faroese skupla (“shovel”), Icelandic skófla (“shovel”), Norwegian skyfle (“shovel”), skyffel (“shovel, hoe”), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel”).