shovel
- 01 A2 Elementary
n.a tool with a long handle and a broad blade used for lifting and moving loose material like earth or snow.
n.a manual tool with a handle and a broad, often curved blade used for moving bulk materials such as soil, grain, or snow.
Simple“He used a heavy shovel to clear the deep snow from his driveway.”
In context“The gardener leaned his shovel against the shed after a long afternoon of moving compost to the flower beds.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the large, heavy bucket on a big construction machine used for digging.
n.the large bucket or scoop of a mechanical excavator or power-operated digging machine.
Simple“The giant shovel of the excavator lifted tons of dirt in one go.”
In context“The hydraulic shovel on the construction site was capable of moving several cubic metres of earth with every rotation of the arm.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
v.to lift and move something using a shovel.
v.to move, lift, or clear material with a shovel; often used transitively with the material as the object.
Simple“We had to shovel the gravel into the back of the truck.”
In context“The workers had to shovel coal into the furnace throughout the night to keep the factory's steam engines running.”
- 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to move something quickly or in large amounts, often in a messy way.
v.to move something in large quantities or with a rough, sweeping motion, often used figuratively regarding food.
Simple“He was so hungry that he started to shovel food into his mouth.”
In context“The exhausted hikers began to shovel the hot stew into their mouths as soon as the bowls were placed on the table.”
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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.