| Spad | n. (Mining) A nail one or two inches long, of iron, brass, tin, or tinner iron, with a hole through the flattened head, used to mark stations in underground surveying. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] |
| Spade | n. [ AS. spaed; spada; akin to D. spade, G. spaten, Icel. spaði, Dan. & Sw. spade, L. spatha a spatula, a broad two-edged sword, a spathe, Gr. spa`qh. Cf. Epaulet, Spade at cards, Spathe, Spatula. ] 1. An implement for digging or cutting the ground, consisting usually of an oblong and nearly rectangular blade of iron, with a handle like that of a shovel. “With spade and pickax armed.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. [ Sp. espada, literally, a sword; -- so caused because these cards among the Spanish bear the figure of a sword. Sp. espada is fr. L. spatha, Gr. spa`qh. See the Etymology above. ] One of that suit of cards each of which bears one or more figures resembling a spade. [ 1913 Webster ] “Let spades be trumps!” she said. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. A cutting instrument used in flensing a whale. [ 1913 Webster ]
Spade bayonet, a bayonet with a broad blade which may be used digging; -- called also trowel bayonet. --
Spade handle (Mach.), the forked end of a connecting rod in which a pin is held at both ends. See Illust. of Knuckle joint, under Knuckle. [ 1913 Webster ]
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