shovel

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʃʌvəl/

Noun

shovel (plural shovels)

1. 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. Not to be confused with a spade, which is designed solely for small-scale digging and incidental tasks such as chopping of small roots.
2. (US) A spade.

Translations

• French: pelle, bêche
• German: Schaufel, Schüppe
• Italian: pala, badile, paletta
• Portuguese: pá
• Russian: совко́вая лопа́та
• Spanish: pala

Verb

shovel (shovels, present participle shoveling; past and past participle shoveled)

1. 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.

   I don't mind shoveling, but using a pickaxe hurts my back terribly.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To move with a shoveling motion.

   Already late for work, I shovelled breakfast into my mouth as fast as possible.

Related terms

• shove

Translations

• French: peller
• German: schaufeln, schippen
• Italian: spalare
• Portuguese: palear, padejar
• Spanish: traspalar, palear

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