spade
1 (spād)
[Middle English, from Old English spadu.]
noun
- A sturdy digging tool having a thick handle and a heavy, flat blade that can be pressed into the ground with the foot.
- Any of various similar digging or cutting tools.
transitive verb: spad·ed, spad·ing, spades.
- To dig or cut with a spade.
derivatives
- spad́er
- noun
spade
2 (spād)
[Italian spade pl. of spada, card suit, from Latin spatha, sword, broad-bladed stirrer, from Greek spathē, broad blade.]
noun
- Games
- A black, leaf-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
- A playing card with this figure.
- also spades. The suit of cards represented by this figure.
- Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.
idioms
- in spades
- To a considerable degree: They had financial trouble in spades.