dig

Meaning

1. 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.
2. To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
3. To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
4. (slang) To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
5. To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
6. To thrust; to poke.
7. To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball

excavate

dig up

scoop out

cut into

archeological site

dig a ditch

make a hole

scratch off

bore a hole

give someone a dig

say something hurtful to someone

dig through

craterlet

scratch the ground

scratch with nails

bird’s beak

rain channel

winning and opening

mining work

especially a hole

cutting remark

gouge out

hand of bananas

paw the ground

poke into

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɪɡ/

From Middle English diggen (“to dig”), alteration of Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, to mound up earth”) (compare Old English dīcere (“digger”)) from dīc, dīċ (“dike, ditch”) from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz, *dīkiją (“pool, puddle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”). Additionally, Middle English diggen may derive from an unrecorded suffixed variant, *dīcgian. Akin to Danish dige (“to dig, raise a dike”), Swedish dika (“to dig ditches”). Related to Middle French diguer (“to dig”), from Old French dikier, itself a borrowing of the same Germanic root (from Middle Dutch dijc). More at ditch, dike.

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