Spade (?), n. [Cf. Spay, n.]
1. Zool.
A hart or stag three years old.
[Written also
spaid,
spayade.]
2. [Cf. L. spado.]
A castrated man or beast.
© Webster 1913.
Spade, n. [AS. spaed; spada; akin to D. spade, G. spaten, Icel. spa&edh;i, Dan. & Sw. spade, L. spatha a spatula, a broad two-edged sword, a spathe, Gr. spa`qh. Cf. Epaulet, Spade at cards, Spathe, Spatula.]
1.
An implement for digging or cutting the ground, consisting usually of an oblong and nearly rectangular blade of iron, with a handle like that of a shovel.
"With
spade and pickax armed."
Milton.
2. [Sp. espada, literally, a sword; -- so caused because these cards among the Spanish bear the figure of a sword. Sp. espada is fr. L. spatha, Gr. spa`qh. See the Etymology above.]
One of that suit of cards each of which bears one or more figures resembling a spade.
"Let spades be trumps!" she said.
Pope.
3.
A cutting instrument used in flensing a whale.
Spade bayonet, a bayonet with a broad blade which may be used digging; -- called also trowel bayonet. -- Spade handle Mach., the forked end of a connecting rod in which a pin is held at both ends. See Illust. of Knuckle joint, under Knuckle.
© Webster 1913.
Spade (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Spading.]
To dig with a spade; to pare off the sward of, as land, with a spade.
© Webster 1913.