Sekirov Dictionary

shovel

/ˈʃʌv.əl/

noun 4
verb 2
forms 5
phrases 2

noun4

•
A hand tool with a handle, used for moving portions of material such as earth, snow, and grain from one place to another, with some forms also used for digging. In strict usage differentiated from a spade, which is designed solely for small-scale digging and incidental tasks such as chopping of small roots.
- It was said that such train crews kept a spare shovel on board because, on numerous occasions, the beginner had not only zealously thrown coal into the firebox but had let the shovel go as well. — 1943
A mechanical part of an excavator with a similar function.
(US) Any shovel in the above senses, or any spade.
•
Ellipsis of shovel hat.
- No one seems to like the offer, and the umpire is just coming down, when a queer old hat, something like a doctor of divinity's shovel, is chucked on to the stage […] — 1857

verb2

•
To move materials with a shovel.
- The workers were shovelling gravel and tarmac into the pothole in the road.
- After the blizzard, we shoveled the driveway for the next two days.
•
(figurative) To move with a shoveling motion.
- Already late for work, I shovelled breakfast into my mouth as fast as possible.

forms

shoveled · shovelled · shoveling · shovelling · shovels

Phrases with shovel

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