[f. SPADE sb.1 Cf. MDu. (Du.) and MLG. (LG.) spaden (LG. also spâen), Da. spade, Sw. dial. spa(da), G. spaten, -späten.]
1. trans. To cut in the form of a spade. rare–1.
1594. Nashe, Terrors of Night, Ep. Ded., Wks. (Grosart), III. 214. To let some vnskilfull pen-man or Nouerint-maker startch his ruffe & new spade his beard with the benefite he made of them.
2. To dig up, to remove, with a spade.
1647. Hexham, I. To Spade and delve, spaden ende delven.
1755. J. Ismay, in Yorks. N. & Q., I. 208. Some sour marshy ground is made arable by spading the turf from the surface and then burning it in heaps.
1795. Trans. Soc. Arts, XIII. 136. I was advised … to get it [sc. the land] dug or spaded.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., II. 632. They form to different arts the hand of toil, To whirl the spindle and to spade the soil.
1844. Emerson, Lect. New Eng. Ref., Wks. (Bohn), I. 259. The hundred acres of the farm must be spaded.
1889. J. E. Curran, in Harper’s Mag., Sept., 570/2. Spading the garden faithfully every spring.
b. To dig up, lift out, take off, with the spade.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 6. Spaded up a corner of ground.
1836. Mrs. Bray, Descr. Tamar & Tavy, I. xx. 348. The slight layer of turf which is spaded off the land.
1854. Thoreau, Walden, i. (1886), 54. I spaded up all the land which I required.
1877. C. Tait, Lett., in Benham, Cath. & C. Tait (1879), 557. The grain is spaded out of trucks.
3. To cut or flense with a whaling-spade.
1887. Goode, Fisheries U.S., 265. Spading flukes is one of the lost arts of fishery.
4. intr. To work with a spade; to dig.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., v. Young men would not spade or plough by reason of noble lineage.
Hence Spaded ppl. a.1
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 140. The manure [being] thus applied upon the spaded land, the field is next ploughed.
1876. Blackmore, Cripps, iii. 16. The patches of spaded mould already browning with powdery crispness.
