spade
n. countablen. a tool for digging that has a flat metal blade and a long handle. You use it in the garden to move soil or make holes for plants.
n. a gardening tool consisting of a flat, rectangular metal blade and a sturdy handle, designed for digging or cutting through soil. Often confused with a shovel, which has a deeper, curved blade for scooping.
He used a spade to dig a hole for the new tree.
After the heavy rain, the gardener found it much easier to push the spade into the softened earth.
The archaeological team carefully cleared the topsoil with spades before switching to smaller trowels to avoid damaging any delicate artifacts buried beneath the surface.
From Middle English spade, from Old English spada, spade, spadu (“spade”), from Proto-Germanic *spadô. Doublet of spatha, spathe, and épée.
Probably from Italian spade, plural of spada (“the ace of spades”, literally “sword, spade”), from earlier *spata, from Latin spatha, from Ancient Greek σπᾰ́θη (spắthē). Cognate with Etymology 1. So called for the shape, though what the shape was exactly meant to represent has been debated.
Commonly used in the idiom 'to call a spade a spade', meaning to speak plainly and directly about something.