SHOVEL (shovelled, shovelling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: shovelled    , shovelling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shovel mean? 

• SHOVEL (noun)
  The noun SHOVEL has 4 senses:

1. a hand tool for lifting loose material; consists of a curved container or scoop and a handle

2. the quantity a shovel can hold

3. a fire iron consisting of a small shovel used to scoop coals or ashes in a fireplace

4. a machine for excavating

  Familiarity information: SHOVEL used as a noun is uncommon.

• SHOVEL (verb)
  The verb SHOVEL has 1 sense:

1. dig with or as if with a shovel

  Familiarity information: SHOVEL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHOVEL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hand tool for lifting loose material; consists of a curved container or scoop and a handle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("shovel" is a kind of...):

hand tool (a tool used with workers' hands)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shovel"):

hand shovel (a shovel that is operated by hand)

post-hole digger; posthole digger (a shovel used to sink postholes)

scoop; scoop shovel (the shovel or bucket of a dredge or backhoe)

Derivation:

shovel (dig with or as if with a shovel)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quantity a shovel can hold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

shovel; shovelful; spadeful

Hypernyms ("shovel" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

Derivation:

shovel (dig with or as if with a shovel)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A fire iron consisting of a small shovel used to scoop coals or ashes in a fireplace

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("shovel" is a kind of...):

fire iron (metal fireside implements)

Derivation:

shovel (dig with or as if with a shovel)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A machine for excavating

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

digger; excavator; power shovel; shovel

Hypernyms ("shovel" is a kind of...):

machine (any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of human tasks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shovel"):

backhoe (an excavator whose shovel bucket is attached to a hinged boom and is drawn backward to move earth)

dredge (a power shovel to remove material from a channel or riverbed)

steam shovel (a power shovel that is driven by steam)

Derivation:

shovel (dig with or as if with a shovel)

• SHOVEL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shovel    ... he / she / it shovels   
Past simple: shoveled    / shovelled   
Past participle: shoveled    / shovelled   
-ing form: shoveling    / shovelling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dig with or as if with a shovel

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

he shovelled in the backyard all afternoon long

Hypernyms (to "shovel" is one way to...):

cut into; delve; dig; turn over (turn up, loosen, or remove earth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Also:

shovel in (eat a large amount of food quickly)

shovel in (earn large sums of money)

Derivation:

shovel (a machine for excavating)

shovel (a hand tool for lifting loose material; consists of a curved container or scoop and a handle)

shovel (a fire iron consisting of a small shovel used to scoop coals or ashes in a fireplace)

shovel (the quantity a shovel can hold)

shoveler (a worker who shovels)

 Context examples 

I tell her that pick-and-shovel man get fifteen dollars a day in the mines.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

So she took the bread-shovel and drew them all out.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I put the shovel away and calmly sat down on the coal-box facing him.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The sight seemed to paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely making a deep gash above the forehead.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"You wouldn't need a backhoe to dig up this ice. You could use a shovel," said the paper's lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)

Then came a picture of a cheerful and corpulent ecclesiastic in a shovel hat, sitting opposite a very thin European, and the inscription: "Lunch with Fra Cristofero at Rosario."

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The other men were variously burthened, some carrying picks and shovels—for that had been the very first necessary they brought ashore from the HISPANIOLA—others laden with pork, bread, and brandy for the midday meal.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The new study not only suggests that underground water ice lies under a thin covering over wide areas, it also identifies eight sites where ice is directly accessible, at latitudes with less hostile conditions than at Mars' polar ice caps. Astronauts could essentially just go there with a bucket and a shovel and get all the water they need.

(Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice, NASA)

If Amy had been here, she'd have turned her back on him forever because, sad to relate, he had a great appetite, and shoveled in his dinner in a manner which would have horrified 'her ladyship'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And I say, 'Sitka Charley is no pick-and-shovel man.'

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)