dig
see also: DIG, dIG
Etymology 1
DIG
Noun
dIG
Noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
see also: DIG, dIG
Etymology 1
From Middle English diggen, alteration of Old English dīcian (compare Old English dīcere) from dīc, dīċ from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkiją ("pool, puddle"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ-.
Pronunciation- IPA: /dɪɡ/
dig (digs, present participle digging; simple past and past participle dug)
- (transitive, intransitive) To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way.
- They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.
- In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
- If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.
- My seven-year-old son always digs a hole in the middle of his mashed potatoes and fills it with gravy before he starts to eat them.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
- Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said.
- (transitive) To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
- to dig potatoes
- to dig up gold
- (mining) To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
- (US, slang, dated) To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
- 1894, Paul Leicester Ford, The Honorable Peter Stirling:
- Peter dug at his books all the harder.
- (figurative) To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
- to dig up evidence
- to dig out the facts
- To thrust; to poke.
- He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
- 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC ↗:
- You should have seen children […] dig and push their mothers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls.
- (volleyball) To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball
- French: creuser
- German: graben
- Italian: scavare
- Portuguese: cavar, escavar
- Russian: копа́ть
- Spanish: excavar, ahondar, cavar
dig (plural digs)
- An archeological or paleontological investigation, or the site where such an investigation is taking place.
- Synonyms: excavation
- A thrust; a poke.
- Synonyms: jab
- He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
- (volleyball) A defensive pass of the ball that has been attacked by the opposing team.
- (cricket) An innings.
- A cutting, sarcastic remark.
- Synonyms: jibe
- The occupation of digging for gold.
- (US, colloquial, dated) A plodding and laborious student.
- (UK, dialect, dated) A tool for digging.
- (music, slang) A rare or interesting vinyl record bought second-hand.
- a £1 charity shop dig
- French: fouille
- German: Grabung, Ausgrabung
- Italian: scavi
- Portuguese: escavação
- Russian: раско́пки
- Spanish: excavación
From African American Vernacular English; due to lack of writing of slave speech, etymology is difficult to trace, but it has been suggested that it is from Wolof dëgg, dëgga ("to understand, to appreciate").
Pronunciation- IPA: /dɪɡ/
dig (digs, present participle digging; simple past and past participle dug)
- (dated slang) To understand.
- You dig?
(dated slang, transitive) To appreciate, or like. - Baby, I dig you.
- 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 6, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC ↗, part 2:
- «And dig her!» yelled Dean, pointing at another woman. «Oh, I love, love, love women! I think women are wonderful! I love women!»
- 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 432 ↗:
- Louie said, "I dig this Theo. I'm gonna learn Swahili and rap with him."
- Spanish: picar el interés, llamar la atención
- French: kiffer
- Portuguese: curtir, gostar
- Spanish: caer bien, simpatizar
Shortening.
Pronunciation- IPA: /dɪd͡ʒ/
dig (uncountable)
- (medicine, colloquial) Digoxin.
- dig toxicity
Unknown.
Noundig (plural digs)
- (Lancashire, obsolete) A duck.
- 10 March, 1616, excerpt from "A true and perfect Inventory of all the Goods &c. which late were of Philippe Oldfeid," reprinted in 1890, J.P. Earwaker (ed., compiler), "Badwall Township: Berington of Moorsbarrow and Bradwall, Pedigree" in The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach, Co. Chester. [… ↗ ]
- Powltrey, &c, &c.
Item ten turkeys [...]
Item three Digs [an old Cheshire word for duck] and a Drake [...]
Item ffower Capons [...]- [The word's gloss has been inserted by Earwaker]
- Powltrey, &c, &c.
- 10 March, 1616, excerpt from "A true and perfect Inventory of all the Goods &c. which late were of Philippe Oldfeid," reprinted in 1890, J.P. Earwaker (ed., compiler), "Badwall Township: Berington of Moorsbarrow and Bradwall, Pedigree" in The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach, Co. Chester. [… ↗ ]
DIG
Noun
dig (plural digs)
- (galaxy) Initialism of dwarf irregular galaxy
dIG
Noun
dig (plural digs)
Synonyms Related termsThis text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
