English Explanatory Dictionary

shovel

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  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. In strict usage differentiated from a spade, which is designed solely for small-scale digging and incidental tasks such as chopping of small roots.
  2. A mechanical part of an excavator with a similar function.
  3. Any shovel in the above senses, or any spade.
  4. Ellipsis of shovel hat.
verb
  1. To move materials with a shovel.
  2. To move with a shoveling motion.

Pronunciation

/ˈʃʌv.əl/ [ˈʃʌv.ɫ̩] En-us-shovel.ogg /ˈʃʊv.əl/ [ˈʃʊv.ɫ̩] /ˈʃɐv.əl/ [ˈʃɐv.ɫ̩]

Word forms

shovel shovels shoveling shovelling shoveled shovelled

Etymology

From Middle English schovele, schovel, showell, shole (> English dialectal shoul, shool), from Old English scofl (“shovel”), from Proto-Germanic *skuflō, *skūflō (“shovel”), equivalent to shove + -el (instrumental/agent suffix). Cognate with Scots shuffle, shule, shuil (“shovel”), Saterland Frisian Sköifel (“shovel”), West Frisian skoffel, schoffel (“hoe, spade, shovel”), Dutch schoffel (“spade, hoe”), Low German Schüfel, Schuffel (“shovel”), German Schaufel (“shovel”), Danish skovl (“shovel”), Faroese skupla (“shovel”), Icelandic skófla (“shovel”), Norwegian skyfle (“shovel”), skyffel (“shovel, hoe”), Swedish skyffel, skovel (“shovel”).

Related words

shove scoop

Derived words

banker's shovel call a shovel a shovel call a spade a shovel call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel coal shovel fire shovel hat mechanical shovel picks and shovels power shovel put to bed with a shovel shot with a shovel shovelbill shovelbum shoveler shovelfish shovelful shovel-handed shovelhead shovellike shovelmaker shovelmaking shovelman shovelnose shovel-nosed shovel-nosed sturgeon shovelomics shovel-ready shovel test shovelware sleigh shovel snow shovel snow sled shovel steam shovel winnowing shovel winnowing-shovel reshovel shovellable shovel out shovel up unshoveled unshovelled
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