[f. prec. 3.]
1. trans. To dig up or out, to remove, by means of a spud.
1652. Blithe, Eng. Improver Impr., 121. I have found out a more certaine way which will destroy them at once, spudding up…. I caused them to be spudded up by the root.
1839. E. FitzGerald, Lett. (1889), I. 50. Then a ride over hill and dale: then spudding up some weeds from the grass.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 21. He waits till the dog indicates the presence of the mole, and then spears or spuds the animal out as it moves in its run.
1884. American, IX. 183. If he had spent a whole day in ‘spudding’ the thistles out of a small field.
2. To dig with a spud. Also intr.
1828–32. Webster, Spud, v. t., to dig or loosen the earth with a spud.
1889. C. Edwardes, Sardinia & the Sardes, 127. They spudded among the vines.
3. To drill (a hole) by a special process in the early stages of sinking an oil-well.
1886. Sci. American, 21 Aug., 116. A 12 inch hole is usually drilled or spudded down to the rock.
Hence Spudding vbl. sb.
1891. Daily News, 12 Sept., 3/6. This is followed by regular day work … made up of thistle spudding,… hop-branching, hay-making, harvesting, &c.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 746/2. The start is made by ‘spudding,’ which is done by attaching the drill proper to the rope, and then skilfully tightening and loosening the coils on the drum by hand, thus raising the drill and letting it fall within the tube.
