spade

UK: /ˈspeɪd/ US: /speɪd/ ,(spād)

Inflections of 'spade' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

spades

v 3rd person singular

spading

v pres p

spaded

v past

spaded

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

spade¹ /speɪd/   n., v., spad•ed, spad•ing. 
n. [countable]

1. Building a tool for digging, having a long handle and a narrow metal blade that can be pressed into the ground with the foot.

v. [~ + object]

2. to dig, cut, or remove with a spade.

Idioms

3. Idioms call a spade a spade, to speak truthfully and bluntly:
   Let's call a spade a spade: I deserved that promotion and you didn't want me to have it.

spade•ful, n. [countable] , pl. -fuls. 

spade² /speɪd/   n. 

1. Games [countable] a black figure shaped like an upside-down heart with a short stem opposite the point, used on playing cards to mark a suit.
2. Games [countable] a card of the suit bearing such figures.
3. Games spades, the suit so marked: [uncountable; used with a singular verb]
   Spades has been dealt.
   [plural* used with a plural verb]
   Spades were led in the last hand.
4. Slang Terms [countable] (disparaging and offensive). a black person.

Idioms

5. Idioms in spades, [Informal.]
   • in the extreme;
     to the utmost:
     He's a hypocrite, in spades.
   • without restraint:
     I told him what I thought of him, in spades.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

spade¹  (spād), n., v., spad•ed, spad•ing. 
n. 

1. Building a tool for digging, having an iron blade adapted for pressing into the ground with the foot and a long handle commonly with a grip or crosspiece at the top, and with the blade usually narrower and flatter than that of a shovel.
2. Building some implement, piece, or part resembling this.
3. Military a sharp projection on the bottom of a gun trail, designed to dig into the earth to restrict backward movement of the carriage during recoil.
4. call a spade a spade, to call something by its real name;
   be candidly explicit;
   speak plainly or bluntly:
   To call a spade a spade, he's a crook.
5. Informal Terms in spades:
   • in the extreme;
     positively:
     He's a hypocrite, in spades.
   • without restraint;
     outspokenly:
     I told him what I thought, in spades.

v.t. 

6. to dig, cut, or remove with a spade (sometimes fol. by up):
   Let's spade up the garden and plant some flowers.

• bef. 900; Middle English (noun, nominal); Old English spadu; cognate with Dutch spade, German Spaten, Old Norse spathi spade, Greek spáthē broad, flat piece of wood

spade′like′, adj. 
spad′er, n. 

spade² (spād),  n. 

1. Games a black figure shaped like an inverted heart and with a short stem at the cusp opposite the point, used on playing cards.
2. Games a card of the suit bearing such figures.
3. Games spades:
   • (used with a sing. or pl. v.) the suit so marked:
     Spades is trump. Spades count double.
   • (used with a pl. v.) Casino. the winning of seven spades or more.
4. Slang Terms (disparaging and offensive). a black person.

• Greek spáthē; see spade¹
• Latin spatha
• Italian, plural of spada origin, originally, sword
• 1590–1600

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

spade / speɪd/ noun

1. a tool for digging, typically consisting of a flat rectangular steel blade attached to a long wooden handle
2. an object or part resembling a spade in shape
3. a type of oar blade that is comparatively broad and short
   Compare spoon6
4. a cutting tool for stripping the blubber from a whale or skin from a carcass
5. call a spade a spade ⇒ to speak plainly and frankly

verb

1. (transitive) to use a spade on

Etymology: Old English spadu; related to Old Norse spathi, Old High German spato, Greek spathē blade

ˈspader noun

spade / speɪd/ noun

1. the black symbol on a playing card resembling a heart-shaped leaf with a stem
2. a card with one or more of these symbols or (when pl) the suit of cards so marked, usually the highest ranking of the four
3. a Black person
4. in spades ⇒ in an extreme or emphatic way

Etymology: 16th Century: from Italian spada sword, used as an emblem on playing cards, from Latin spatha, from Greek spathē blade, broadsword